a. colloq. [f. SWELL sb. 9 + -ISH1.] Characteristic of or befitting a ‘swell’; stylish, dandified. Hence Swellishness.
1820. Sporting Mag., VII. 144. The look of Williams was swellish in the extreme.
1856. in Brasenose Ale, 133. Which ornament [sc. the moustache] (swellish, yet somewhat outré), Can be only assumed with the hood of B.A.
1858. Leeds Mercury, 13 May, 4/3. About the hour when Swells are generally thickest, two Swells, of the most charming swellishness and with small balloons round their legs, were roughly ordered by Inspector Grunt.
1890. Jean Middlemass, Two False Moves, II. xiii. 198. The bigger the swell, the more money he expects to get for his swellishness and his title.
