n. & adj. — Atlantic Canada, Food & Drink
liquor made by pouring boiling water into an empty rum barrel to extract any remaining alcohol from the wood.
Type: 3. Semantic Change — The term refers to turning or "swishing" water in a rum, wine or other barrel in order to extract the alcohol absorbed by the barrel wood (see the 2006 quotation for a description of the process by a young Nova Scotian female blogger). An episode of the CBC-produced Trailer Park Boys, which featured the process, was important for the distribution of the term beyond Atlantic Canada.
The term is listed in DNE, s.v. "swish" (1), and Barber (2007) designates swish as "Atlantic Canadian".
See also, COD-2, s.v. "swish", which is marked "Cdn (Nfld & Maritimes)", and DNE, where it is documented in a single quotation (see the 1986 quotation). The term swish is what may be called a "new Newfoundlandism", as it stands in contrast to the large bulk of Newfoundland terms that derive from the island's traditional dialects.