Meanings
plural lead swingers
- derogatoryA person who "swings the lead"
1 more example
And indeed, malingerers and "lead-swingers" (a prewar nautical term for an easy job aboard a ship, adopted by soldiers to refer to those shirking their duties) were mixed among the truly sick. There was a whole bunch of us - various complaints - some real but most of them "lead swingers," trying to dodge a working party.
2008, Shock Troops: Canadians Fighting The Great War 1917 - 1918, →ISBN, page 239Synonyms: shirker, malinger, goldbricker
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA person who "swings the lead"
Origin
From lead + swinger. * A pre-First World War nautical term for an easy job aboard a ship, later adopted by Canadian soldiers to refer to those shirking their duties.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
lead swinger. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lead%20swinger
“lead swinger.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lead%20swinger. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “lead swinger,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lead%20swinger.
Source: lead swinger on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.