Swinish

Burke's phrase of "the swinish multitude," applied to mobs, was then in every body's mouth; and, accordingly, after my brother had recovered from his first astonishment at this audacious mutiny, he made us several sweeping bows that looked very much like tentative rehearsals of a sweeping _fusillade_, and then addressed us in a very brief speech, of which we could distinguish the words _pearls_ and _swinish multitude_, but uttered in a very low key, perhaps out of some lurking consideration for the two young strangers. ❋ Thomas De Quincey (1822)

While the foreigner speaks and writes of superstition, of heathenism, of abominable rites now passing away, the native Hindu press is equally emphatic in its condemnation of what it calls the swinish indulgence of the Anglo-Saxon, his beer-drinking and his gluttony, his craze for money and material power, his disgust at philosophy and all intellectual aspiration, his half-savage love for the chase and the destruction of animal life. ❋ Frank F. Ellinwood (N/A)

I abandoned myself to the life, and developed the misconception that the secret of John Barleycorn lay in going on mad drunks, rising through the successive stages that only an iron constitution could endure to final stupefaction and swinish unconsciousness. ❋ Unknown (2010)

Martin SkeggWilliam Morris spoke of catering "to the swinish luxury of the rich", something that the five-star hotel has been doing since the words Savoy and Ritz entered the lexicon as bywords for opulence. ❋ Unknown (2011)

I waited for the skies to part and a lightning bolt to strike the swinish miscreant dead on the spot. ❋ Unknown (2009)

Salvation rose reluctantly from the dark depths of my memory and I heard my voice, calm and relaxed, gently beguiling in a swinish way. ❋ Unknown (2009)

[UK Parliament, 1741-2] (1c) [...] among all manner of bovine, swinish and feathered cattle. ❋ Unknown (2010)

“A humble childhood skill that proved most useful,” I said, scratching away to the accompaniment of blissful swinish grunting. ❋ Unknown (2009)

The swinish drunkenness in which I had lived for months (this was accompanied by the sense of degradation and the old feeling of conviction of sin) was the last and best, and I could see for myself what it was worth. ❋ Unknown (2010)

Other than this happy swinish chuckle, silence filled the room. ❋ Unknown (2009)

And yet the car was apparently pretty easy to drive—according to the lucky, swinish few who have driven them. ❋ Dan Neil (2011)

And you can bet that 37% reflects a lot of women who are browbeaten by their swinish husbands into liking Limbaugh. ❋ Unknown (2010)

We learned of that shadow world of devious derivatives, short sales, and swinish swaps, etc. none of which meant a damned thing to me, but meant mega fortunes for Goldman Sachs and their brothers in that high stakes gambling casino called American banking; a casino in which the house always won, because the people would cover the losses. ❋ Unknown (2010)