verb. (venery).—To copulate: see RIDE (GROSE). Hence SWIVER = a performer (q.v.), a WENCHER (q.v.); QUEEN OF SWIVELAND = Venus.

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  [?].  MS. Cantab., Ff. ii. 38, f. 136, Sevyn Sages.

        A! seyde the pye, by Godys wylle,
How thou art SWYVED y schalle telle.

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  [?].  MS. Lincoln, A. i. 17, f. 149.

        And now are sary SWYWERS brokyne owte of bande,
Thay fille alle fulle this Ynglande, and many other lande.
In everilk a toune ther es many one,
And everilk wyfe wenys hir selfe thar scho hafes one.

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  1383.  CHAUCER, The Canterbury Tales, ‘The Miller’s Tale,’ 666 [SKEAT (1895), I. v., 111].

          Thus SWYVED was the carpenteres wyf,
For al his keping and his jalousye;
And Absolon hath kist hir nether yë.
    Ibid., ‘The Reves Tale,’ l. 4178.
Yon wenche wol I SWIVE.

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  c. 1508[?].  Colyn Blowbols Testament [MS. Rawl., C. 86, fol. 106, verso].

        Alle the that ben very good drynkers,
And eke also alle feoble SWYVERS,
And they also that can lyft a bole.

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  1598.  FLORIO, A Worlde of Wordes, s.v. Fottere. To iape, to sard, to fucke, to SWIVE, to occupy. [Also see = Fottarie, Fottetrice, Fottitire, and Fottitura.]

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  1611.  COTGRAVE, Dictionarie, s.v. Chevaucherie. A riding, a SWIVING.

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  c. 1620.  Percy Folio MS., 455.

        Of all the ffishes in the sea,
Giue me a womans SWIUINGE.

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  1656.  R. FLETCHER, Martiall, xi. 98.

        I can SWIVE four times in a night: But thee
Once in four years I cannot occupie.
    Ibid., xi. 24.
Nor will I SWIVE thee though it bee
Our very first nights jollitie.
Nor shall my Couch or Pallat lye
In common both to thee and I.

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  1659.  The Legend of Captain Jones.

        England salutes him with the general joys
Of court and country, knights, squires, fools, and boys
In every town rejoice at his arrival,
The townsmen where he comes their wives do SWIVE all.

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  d. 1680.  ROCHESTER, A Ramble in St. James’s Park (Works, 1718).

        And so may that false woman thrive
That dares prophane the c——t I SWIVE.

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  1686.  EARL OF DORSET, A Faithful Catalogue of our Most Eminent Ninnies [Works (1718), ii. 33].

        From St. James’s to the Land of Thule,
There’s not a whore who SWIVES so like a Mule.

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  1741.  CAPT. SAMUEL COCK, A Voyage to Lethe, 7. The Charming Sally, built by the celebrated Herman SWIVIUS, on the river Medway.

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