swyn.
/swʌɪ/, U.S. /swaɪ/, Australian English /swɑe/ Australian slang.
1. Two; spec. a two-shilling coin or a two-year prison sentence.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > punishment > imprisonment > [noun] > sentence or term of > specific term of (year(s))
year1874
rest1882
two-spot1885
trey1887
swy1924
sawbuck1925
handful1930
taxi1930
nickel1953
dime1967
the world > relative properties > number > specific numbers > two > duality > [noun] > thing consisting of or counted as two
twoer1887
swy1924
society > trade and finance > money > medium of exchange or currency > coins collective > English coins > [noun] > florin or two shillings
florin1849
godless florin1849
graceless florin1862
Scotchman1879
lamb-florin1885
swy1924
peg1950
1924 Truth (Sydney) 27 Apr. 6 Swy, two.
1941 S. J. Baker Pop. Dict. Austral. Slang 75 Swy, the game of two-up. (2) A sentence of two years' gaol. (3) A florin.
1983 Age (Melbourne) 15 Dec. 13 (caption) Exhibition of used coin of the realm: bank notes, collector's items, swys, deaners, zacs, treys, brass razoos.
2. The game of two-up (see also quot. 1950). Also swy-up.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > games of chance > two up, etc. > [noun]
Tommy Dodd1865
odd man wins1884
two-up1898
swy1940
swy game1950
1940 Bulletin (Sydney) 17 Jan. 34/3 The crown-and-anchor seminary he avoids; When swi-up's on, a different direction He takes.
1941 [see sense 1]. 1950 K. S. Prichard Winged Seeds 63 What set the whole town agog, though, was their attempt to visit the ‘swy’: the famous two-up ring on a sand hill near the old Rising Sun Inn.
1953 R. Braddon in I. Bevan Sunburnt Country 127 Swy is a game of chance, requiring the tossing of two or three pennies into the air and the betting of those who watch their rise and fall on whether they come down heads or tails.
1969 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 24 Sept. 1/1 He said two-up (or swy) was Australia's national game.
1976 Sunday Mail (Brisbane) 24 Oct. 16/4 The police know they will never stop goldfielders playing swy.
Compounds
swy game n. a game of two-up.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > games of chance > two up, etc. > [noun]
Tommy Dodd1865
odd man wins1884
two-up1898
swy1940
swy game1950
1950 Austral. Police Jrnl. Apr. 118 Swi, 2s., but a swi-game is a two-up game.
1953 K. Tennant Joyful Condemned xxix. 284 There's all these little crims in the swi-game and the S.P. betting.
1969 Telegraph (Brisbane) 14 May 8/4 Otherwise they blow it at the pub, or at the swy game.
swy school n. a group of persons who have gathered to play two-up.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > games of chance > two up, etc. > [noun] > player > group
swy school1921
1921 Aussie: Cheerful Mag. 15 Mar. 54 Just done me last dollar up at the swi school.
1956 S. Hope Diggers' Paradise 59 Neither shalt thou play two-up for lucre in the street, nor attend such swy schools in any private or public premises.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1986; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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n.1921