Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1974 (SND Vol. IX).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1777, 1887
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†SWAGGLE, n. A soft swampy unsteady piece of ground, a wobbly part of a bog, a quagmire.Abd. 1777 J. Anderson Essays I. 183:
As these bogs are sometimes covered with a strong scurf of a particular kind of grass, with very matted roots, which is strong enough to bear a small weight without breaking, although it yields very much, it is, in these circumstances, called a Swaggle.Abd. 1887 Bon-Accord (16 April) 9:
Heather, swaggles, dykes, nor stanks.
