Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The custom or practice of marking the upper mandible of a swan, on behalf of the crown, of Oxford University, and of several London companies or gilds.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun engraving A yearly expedition on the Thames to take up young swans and mark them, as by Companies of Dyers and Vintners; -- called also
swan-hopping .
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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Milder still was swan-upping on the Thames, the ancient ritual of counting Her Royal Majesty's swans.
Errol Uys biography 2000
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But this is not the only ludicrous mistake that has arisen on the subject, since "swan-upping," or the taking up of swans, performed annually by the swan companies, with the Lord Mayor at their head, for the purpose of marking them, has been changed, by an unlucky asperite, into swan-_hopping_, which is perfectly unintelligible.
The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 12, No. 321, July 5, 1828 Various
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The time-honoured brutality of swan-upping is now mitigated by law, its cruelty being obvious.
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Swans were formerly considered royal birds; and those upon the river Thames are still the property of the crown, and the young ones are marked every year under the superintendence of the Lord Mayor, the ceremony being called swan-hopping, which is said to be derived from swan-upping, a part of the ceremony being to decide how far up the river the swans have a right to go.
The Lady's Country Companion: or, How to Enjoy a Country Life Rationally Jane 1845
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Nev Allen went on a solo swan-upping jaunt by scoring all five Constant goals.
unknown title 2009
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Carl de Souza/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images A swan took off from the River Thames during the annual swan-upping census in Maidenhead, Berkshire, England Monday.
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He presides over the annual ceremony of swan-upping, which, despite its suggestive name, involves nothing more exciting than marking cygnets 'beaks to indicate ownership.
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For instance, use of the term swan-upping is always greeted with a smile in England.
Gammerstang commented on the word swan-upping
(noun) - (1) The swan companies annually used to take up the swans for the purpose of marking them. --T. Lewis Davies' Supplemental English Glossary, 1881 (2) Swan-upping was, among our ancestors, a very favorite sport, not unattended by risk, for the birds seldom submitted to the process without a struggle, which occasionally cost the captor a ducking. --W.C. Hazlitt's Faiths and Folklore of the British Isles, 1870 (3) Swan-upper, an official who takes up and marks swans. --Sir James Murray's New English Dictionary, 1919
January 26, 2018