Swifter Swift"er transitive verb (Nautical) To tighten, as slack standing rigging, by bringing the opposite shrouds nearer.

Swiftfoot Swift"foot` adjective Nimble; fleet. Mir. for Mag.

Swiftfoot Swift"foot` noun (Zoology) The courser.

Swiftlet Swift"let noun (Zoology) Any one of numerous species of small East Indian and Asiatic swifts of the genus Collocalia . Some of the species are noted for furnishing the edible bird's nest. See Illust. under Edible .

Swiftly Swift"ly adverb In a swift manner; with quick motion or velocity; fleetly. Wyclif.

Swiftness Swift"ness noun The quality or state of being swift; speed; quickness; celerity; velocity; rapidity; as, the swiftness of a bird; the swiftness of a stream; swiftness of descent in a falling body; swiftness of thought, etc.

Swig Swig transitive verb [ Confer Dutch zwelgen to swallow, English swallow , v.t.] 1. To drink in long draughts; to gulp; as, to swig cider. [ Colloq.]

2. To suck. [ Obsolete or Archaic]

The lambkins swig the teat.

Creech.

Swig Swig noun 1. A long draught. [ Colloq.] Marryat.

2. (Nautical) A tackle with ropes which are not parallel.

3. A beverage consisting of warm beer flavored with spices, lemon, etc. [ Prov. Eng.]

Swig Swig transitive verb [ Confer Prov. English swig to leak out, Anglo-Saxon swījian to be silent, swīcan to evade, escape.] 1. To castrate, as a ram, by binding the testicles tightly with a string, so that they mortify and slough off. [ Prov. Eng.]

2. (Nautical) To pull upon (a tackle) by throwing the weight of the body upon the fall between the block and a cleat.

Swill Swill transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Swilled ; present participle & verbal noun Swilling .] [ Middle English swilen to wash, Anglo-Saxon swilian .] 1. To wash; to drench. [ Obsolete]

As fearfully as doth a galled rock
O'erhang and jutty his confounded base,
Swilled with the wild and wasteful ocean.

Shak.

2. [ Properly, to drink like a pig. See Swill , noun ] To drink in great draughts; to swallow greedily.

Well-dressed people, of both sexes, . . . devouring sliced beef, and swilling pork, and punch, and cider.

Smollett.

3. To inebriate; to fill with drink.

I should be loth
To meet the rudeness and swilled insolence
Of such late wassailers.

Milton.

Swill Swill intransitive verb To drink greedily or swinishly; to drink to excess. South.

Swill Swill noun 1. The wash, or mixture of liquid substances, given to swine; hogwash; -- called also swillings .

2. Large draughts of liquor; drink taken in excessive quantities.

Swiller Swill"er noun One who swills.

Swillings Swill"ings noun plural See Swill , noun , 1.

Swim Swim intransitive verb [ imperfect Swam or Swum ; past participle Swum ; present participle & verbal noun Swimming .] [ Anglo-Saxon swimman ; akin to Dutch zwemmen , Old High German swimman , German schwimmen , Icelandic svimma , Danish swömme , Swedish simma . Confer Sound an air bladder, a strait.] 1. To be supported by water or other fluid; not to sink; to float; as, any substance will swim , whose specific gravity is less than that of the fluid in which it is immersed.

2. To move progressively in water by means of strokes with the hands and feet, or the fins or the tail.

Leap in with me into this angry flood,
And swim to yonder point.

Shak.

3. To be overflowed or drenched. Ps. vi. 6.

Sudden the ditches swell, the meadows swim .

Thomson.

4. Fig.: To be as if borne or floating in a fluid.

[ They] now swim in joy.

Milton.

5. To be filled with swimming animals. [ Obsolete]

[ Streams] that swim full of small fishes.

Chaucer.

Swim Swim transitive verb 1. To pass or move over or on by swimming; as, to swim a stream.

Sometimes he thought to swim the stormy main.

Dryden.

2. To cause or compel to swim; to make to float; as, to swim a horse across a river.

3. To immerse in water that the lighter parts may float; as, to swim wheat in order to select seed.

Swim Swim noun 1. The act of swimming; a gliding motion, like that of one swimming. B. Jonson.

2. The sound, or air bladder, of a fish.

3. A part of a stream much frequented by fish. [ Eng.]

Swim bladder , an air bladder of a fish. -- To be in the swim , to be in a favored position; to be associated with others in active affairs. [ Colloq.]

Swim Swim intransitive verb [ Middle English swime dizziness, vertigo, Anglo-Saxon swīma ; akin to Dutch zwijm , Icelandic svimi dizziness, svina to subside, svīa to abate, German schwindel dizziness, schwinden to disappear, to dwindle, Old High German swīnan to dwindle. Confer Squemish , Swindler .] To be dizzy; to have an unsteady or reeling sensation; as, the head swims .

Swimbel Swim"bel noun [ Etymol. uncertain.] A moaning or sighing sound or noise; a sough. [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

Swimmer Swim"mer noun 1. One who swims.

2. (Far.) A protuberance on the leg of a horse.

3. (Zoology) A swimming bird; one of the natatores.

Little swimmer (Zoology) , a phalarope.

Swimmeret Swim"mer·et noun (Zoology) One of a series of flat, fringed, and usually bilobed, appendages, of which several pairs occur on the abdominal somites of many crustaceans. They are used as fins in swimming.

Swimming Swim"ming adjective 1. That swims; capable of swimming; adapted to, or used in, swimming; as, a swimming bird; a swimming motion.

2. Suffused with moisture; as, swimming eyes.

Swimming bell (Zoology) , a nectocalyx. See Illust. under Siphonophora . -- Swimming crab (Zoology) , any one of numerous species of marine crabs, as those of the family Protunidæ , which have some of the joints of one or more pairs of legs flattened so as to serve as fins.

Swimming Swim"ming noun The act of one who swims.

Swimming Swim"ming adjective [ From Swim to be dizzy.] Being in a state of vertigo or dizziness; as, a swimming brain.

Swimming Swim"ming noun Vertigo; dizziness; as, a swimming in the head. Dryden.

Swimmingly Swim"ming·ly adverb In an easy, gliding manner, as if swimming; smoothly; successfully; prosperously.

Swimmingness Swim"ming·ness noun Act or state of swimming; suffusion. "A swimmingness in the eye." Congreve.

Swinck Swinck v. & noun See Swink . [ Obsolete]

Swindle Swin"dle transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Swindled ; present participle & verbal noun Swindling .] [ See Swindler .] To cheat defraud grossly, or with deliberate artifice; as, to swindle a man out of his property.

Lammote . . . has swindled one of them out of three hundred livres.

Carlyle.

Swindle Swin"dle noun The act or process of swindling; a cheat.

Swindler Swin"dler noun [ German schwindler , from schwindlen to be dizzy, to act thoughtlessly, to cheat, from schwindel dizziness, from schwinden to vanish, to disappear, to dwindle. See Swim to be dizzy.] One who swindles, or defrauds grossly; one who makes a practice of defrauding others by imposition or deliberate artifice; a cheat.

Syn. -- Sharper; rogue. -- Swindler , Sharper . These words agree in describing persons who take unfair advantages. A swindler is one who obtains money or goods under false pretenses. A sharper is one who cheats by sharp practice, as in playing at cards or staking what he can not pay.

Fraud and injustice soon follow, and the dignity of the British merchant is sunk in the scandalous appellation of a swindler .

V. Knox.

Perhaps you 'll think I act the same
As a sly sharper plays his game.

Cotton.

Swindlery Swin"dler·y noun Swindling; rougery. [ R.] " Swindlery and blackguardism." Carlyle.

Swine Swine noun sing. & plural [ Middle English swin , Anglo-Saxon swīn ; akin to OFries. & Old Saxon swin , Dutch zwijn , German schwein , Old High German swīn , Icelandic svīn , Swedish svin , Danish sviin , Goth. swein ; originally a diminutive corresponding to English sow . See Sow , noun ] (Zoology) Any animal of the hog kind, especially one of the domestical species. Swine secrete a large amount of subcutaneous fat, which, when extracted, is known as lard . The male is specifically called boar , the female, sow , and the young, pig . See Hog . "A great herd of swine ." Mark v. 11.

Swine grass (Botany) , knotgrass ( Polygonum aviculare ); -- so called because eaten by swine. -- Swine oat (Botany) , a kind of oat sometimes grown for swine. -- Swine's cress (Botany) , a species of cress of the genus Senebiera ( S. Coronopus ). -- Swine's head , a dolt; a blockhead. [ Obsolete] Chaucer. - - Swine thistle (Botany) , the sow thistle.

Swine-pox Swine"-pox` noun (Medicine) A variety of the chicken pox, with acuminated vesicles containing a watery fluid; the water pox. Pepys.

Swinebread Swine"bread` noun (Botany) The truffle.

Swinecase Swine"case` noun A hogsty. [ Prov. Eng.]

Swinecote Swine"cote` noun A hogsty. [ Prov. Eng.]

Swinecrue Swine"crue` noun [ Swine + Prov. English crue a coop.] A hogsty. [ Prov. Eng.]

Swinefish Swine"fish` noun (Zoology) The wolf fish.

Swineherd Swine"herd` noun A keeper of swine.

Swinepipe Swine"pipe` noun (Zoology) The European redwing. [ Prov. Eng.]

Swinery Swin"er·y (swīn"ẽr*ȳ) noun Same as Piggery . [ R.]

Swinestone Swine"stone` noun (Min.) See Stinkstone .

Swinesty Swine"sty` noun A sty, or pen, for swine.

Swing Swing intransitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Swung ; Archaic imperfect Swang ; present participle & verbal noun Swinging .] [ Middle English swingen , Anglo-Saxon swingan to scourge, to fly, to flutter; akin to German schwingen to winnow, to swingle, oscillate, sich schwingen to leap, to soar, Old High German swingan to throw, to scourge, to soar, Swedish svinga to swing, to whirl, Danish svinge . Confer Swagger , Sway , Swinge , Swink .] 1. To move to and fro, as a body suspended in the air; to wave; to vibrate; to oscillate.

I tried if a pendulum would swing faster, or continue swinging longer, in case of exsuction of the air.

Boyle.

2. To sway or move from one side or direction to another; as, the door swung open.

3. To use a swing; as, a boy swings for exercise or pleasure. See Swing , noun , 3.

4. (Nautical) To turn round by action of wind or tide when at anchor; as, a ship swings with the tide.

5. To be hanged. [ Colloq.] D. Webster.

To swing round the circle , to make a complete circuit. [ Colloq.]

He had swung round the circle of theories and systems in which his age abounded, without finding relief.

A. V. G. Allen.

Swing Swing transitive verb 1. To cause to swing or vibrate; to cause to move backward and forward, or from one side to the other.

He swings his tail, and swiftly turns his round.

Dryden.

They get on ropes, as you must have seen the children, and are swung by their men visitants.

Spectator.

2. To give a circular movement to; to whirl; to brandish; as, to swing a sword; to swing a club; hence, colloquially, to manage; as, to swing a business.

3. (Machinery) To admit or turn (anything) for the purpose of shaping it; -- said of a lathe; as, the lathe can swing a pulley of 12 inches diameter.

To swing a door , gate , etc. (Carp.) , to put it on hinges so that it can swing or turn.

Swing Swing noun 1. The act of swinging; a waving, oscillating, or vibratory motion of a hanging or pivoted object; oscillation; as, the swing of a pendulum.

2. Swaying motion from one side or direction to the other; as, some men walk with a swing .

3. A line, cord, or other thing suspended and hanging loose, upon which anything may swing; especially, an apparatus for recreation by swinging, commonly consisting of a rope, the two ends of which are attached overhead, as to the bough of a tree, a seat being placed in the loop at the bottom; also, any contrivance by which a similar motion is produced for amusement or exercise.

4. Influence of power of a body put in swaying motion.

The ram that batters down the wall,
For the great swing and rudeness of his poise,
They place before his hand that made the engine.

Shak.

5. Capacity of a turning lathe, as determined by the diameter of the largest object that can be turned in it.

6. Free course; unrestrained liberty or license; tendency. "Take thy swing ." Dryden.

To prevent anything which may prove an obstacle to the full swing of his genius.

Burke.

Full swing . See under Full . -- Swing beam (Railway Mach.) , a crosspiece sustaining the car body, and so suspended from the framing of a truck that it may have an independent lateral motion. -- Swing bridge , a form of drawbridge which swings horizontally, as on a vertical pivot. -- Swing plow , or Swing plough . (a) A plow without a fore wheel under the beam. (b) A reversible or sidehill plow. -- Swing wheel . (a) The scape-wheel in a clock, which drives the pendulum. (b) The balance of a watch.

Swingdevil Swing"dev`il noun (Zoology) [ So named from its swift flight and dark color, which give it an uncanny appearance.] The European swift. [ Prov. Eng.]

Swinge Swinge (swĭnj) v. & noun See Singe . [ Obsolete] Spenser.

Swinge Swinge transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Swinged (swĭnjd); present participle & verbal noun Swingeing (swĭnj"ĭng).] [ Middle English swengen , Anglo-Saxon swengan to shake, causative of swingan . See Swing .] 1. To beat soundly; to whip; to chastise; to punish.

I had swinged him soundly.

Shak.

And swinges his own vices in his son.

C. Dryden.

2. To move as a lash; to lash. [ Obsolete]

Swinges the scaly horror of his folded tail.

Milton.

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