swilen.
/swʌɪl/, U.S. /swaɪl/, Canadian English /swail/ Newfoundland.
A seal.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > order Pinnipedia (seal, sea lion, or walrus) > [noun] > family Phocidae > seal
sealc893
sea-seala1398
seal-fishc1420
sea-veal1576
phoca1594
sea tun1601
sea-calf1616
rubb1694
swile1802
tang-fish1809
sea-pig1826
earless seal1833
phocacean1842
phocid1871
floe-flat1883
phocine1890
1802 J. Murphy Old Sealing Days (1916) 2 [J]ars, Doaters and Gunswoils and many others brew upon the rocks.
c1845 in Dict. Newfoundland Eng. (1982) 450/2 When we got into the jam the swoiles were very thick.
1878 C. Hallock Amer. Club List & Sportsman's Gloss. p. xi/2 Swile.
1878 C. Hallock Sportsman's Gazetteer (ed. 4) Gloss. 711/2 Swile, a seal. (Newfoundland.)
1907 J. G. Millais Newfoundland ii. 39 Swoiles (seals) was much to us in the spring, for it meant 'bout what we lived on.
1920 W. T. Grenfell Labrador Doctor vii. 145 The ‘swiles’ (seals) had struck in, and all hands were out on the ice.
1969 H. Horwood Newfoundland xii. 83 Seals on the north-east coast are called swiles, and the guns used for hunting them are swilin' guns.
1974 F. Mowat Boat who wouldn't Float vi. 58 A number of swile guns—longbarrelled, smooth-bore guns intended for killing seals.
Derivatives
swile v. intransitive. = seal v.3
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > industry > whaling and seal-hunting > seal-hunting > hunt seals [verb (intransitive)]
seal1827
swile1905
1905 N. Duncan Dr. Grenfell's Parish 40 I been swilin'..in these seas every spring for fifty-seven years.
swiling n.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > industry > whaling and seal-hunting > seal-hunting > [noun]
sealing1786
swilingc1894
sealery1895
land-sealing1911
c1894 in Dict. Newfoundland Eng. (1982) 455/2 Ma shall have a new silk dress, When Da comes home from swoiling.
1897 B. Willson Tenth Island 110 I was no good for ‘swilin'’ any more.
1906 J. Lumsden Skipper Parson 90 If the Canadians come down here to take our country I'll get down my ‘swiling gun’, and we'll go out and meet 'em.
1969 [see main sense]. This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1933; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.1802