- a man of importance; a person with a showy, jaunty exterior, “a rank SWELL,” a very flashily dressed person, a man who by excessive dress apes a higher position than he actually occupies. Any one occupying a superior position in society is by the mob called a SWELL. Anything is said to be SWELL or SWELLISH that looks showy, or is many coloured, or is of a desirable quality. Dickens and Thackeray were termed great SWELLS in literature, and so are the first persons in the learned professions SWELLS in their way.
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Position in the dictionary: 3552 of 4022 slang words.Next words in the dictionary: swell hung in chains, swell street, swig, swill, swim, swindler, swing, swing., swingeing, swipe
Previous words in the dictionary: sweetener, sweet, sweep, sweater, sweat, swatchel-cove, swarry, swap, swankey, swank