The flail has now become such a rare agricultural implement that it is well to bear in mind that its two main parts were the handstaff and swipple.
Source: wiktionary
Swipple
Synonyms for "swipple" (2 found)
Ranked by relevance and common usage.
Related word relations
OpenGloss and ConceptNet supply richer edges like generalizations, collocations, and derivations.
Translations
11 translations across 9 languages.
Dutch
1 entries- slaghout noun (the part of a flail that is free to swing)
French
1 entries- battant noun (the part of a flail that is free to swing)
German
1 entries- Schlagholz noun (the part of a flail that is free to swing)
Hungarian
2 entries- cséphadaró noun (the part of a flail that is free to swing)
- hadaró noun (the part of a flail that is free to swing)
Italian
1 entries- calocchia noun (the part of a flail that is free to swing)
Polish
1 entries- bijak noun (the part of a flail that is free to swing)
Portuguese
1 entries- pírtigo noun (the part of a flail that is free to swing)
Russian
2 entries- би́ло noun (the part of a flail that is free to swing)
- бич noun (the part of a flail that is free to swing)
Welsh
1 entries- ffustwial noun (the part of a flail that is free to swing)
Sample sentences
3 total sentences available.
As showing the local influence of the tool, one may refer to the custom in Yorkshire by which a girl, on being proposed to, took a piece of straw and broke it into two lengths (long and short), typifying the handstaff and swipple of the flail. If she gave the former to her lover, she accepted him: but if she tendered the shorter piece, "she gave him 't swipple end," or rejected him.
Source: wiktionary
Traditional flails had a handle (haft), usually about 40 inches long, and a swipple (also called a swingle), about 24 inches long. The two pieces were hinged together with leather or eel skin.
Source: wiktionary
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.