swim
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /swɪm/
rhymes: -ɪm
Forms: form: swims
form: swimming
form: swam
form: swum
form: swum
form: no-table-tags
form: glossary
form: swim
form: swim
form: swam
form: swum
form: swim
form: swam
form: swum
form: swammest
form: swims
form: swam
form: swum
form: swim
form: swam
form: swum
form: swim
form: swam
form: swum
form: swim
form: -
form: swimming
form: swimmand
form: swum
form: swum
Etymology: From Middle English swymmen, from Old English swimman (“to swim, float”) (class III strong verb; past tense swamm, past participle geswummen), from Proto-West Germanic *swimman, from Proto-Germanic *swimmaną (“to swoon, lose consciousness, swim”), from Proto-Indo-European *swem(bʰ)- (“to be unsteady, move, swim”).
Cognates
Cognate with Scots sweem, soom (“to swim”), Saterland Frisian swimme (“to swim”), West Frisian swimme (“to swim, float”), Dutch zwemmen (“to swim”), German schwimmen (“to swim”), Norwegian Bokmål and Danish svømme (“to swim”), Swedish simma (“to swim”), Norwegian Nynorsk symja (“to swim”).
Senses: examples: text: We were now all upon a Level, as to our travelling; being unshipp’d, for our Bark would swim no farther, and she was too heavy to carry on our Backs […]
ref: 1720, Daniel Defoe, Captain Singleton, London: J. Brotherton, page 87:
text: He turned back to the scene before him and the enormous new block of council dwellings. The design was some way after Corbusier but the block was built up on plinths and resembled an Atlantic liner swimming diagonally across the site.
ref: 1963, Margery Allingham, “Foreword”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
text: Meanwhile, NR faced an unexpected challenge when a night watchman spotted several Koi Carp swimming in floodwater close to the railway, after they had escaped from a nearby private residence. Wilson says the owner was eventually traced, and the fish were safely returned "after enjoying swimming around in a 3,000-acre lake".
ref: 2020 May 20, Paul Stephen, “NR beats floods to secure tracks to Drax”, in Rail, page 59:
glosses: To move through the water, without touching the bottom; to propel oneself in water by natural means.
examples: text: swimming in self-pity
text: a bare few bits of meat swimming in watery sauce
glosses: To become immersed in, or as if in, or flooded with, or as if with, a liquid
examples: text: A fam'd Sur-tout he wears, which once was blue, / And his foot swims in a capacious shoe.
ref: 1777, The Poetical Preceptor; Or, a Collection of Select Pieces of Poetry, Etc:
glosses: To move around freely because of excess space.
examples: text: For exercise, we like to swim laps around the pool.
text: I want to swim the 200-yard breaststroke in the finals.
text: Sometimes he thought to swim the stormy main.
ref: 1697, Virgil, “The Tenth Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
glosses: To traverse (a specific body of water, or a specific distance) by swimming; or, to use a specific swimming stroke; or, to compete in a specific swimming event.
examples: text: to swim a horse across a river
text: Half of the guinea pigs were swum daily.
glosses: To cause to swim.
examples: text: sink or swim
text: There's oil swimming on the water.
text: Why, now, blow wind, swell billow, and swim bark!
The storm is up and all is on the hazard.
ref: 1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:
text: And he cut down a stick, and cast it in thither; and the iron did swim.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 2 Kings 6:6:
glosses: To float.
examples: text: I am weary with my groaning; all the night make I my bed to swim; I water my couch with my tears.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 6:6:
text: Sudden, the ditches ſwell; the meadows ſwim.
ref: a. 1749 (date written), James Thomson, “Autumn”, in The Seasons, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, and sold by Thomas Cadell, […], published 1768, →OCLC, page 127, line 336:
glosses: To be overflowed or drenched.
examples: text: to swim wheat in order to select seed
glosses: To immerse in water to make the lighter parts float.
glosses: To test (a suspected witch) by throwing into a river; those who floated rather than sinking were deemed to be witches.
glosses: To glide along with a waving motion.
examples: text: You should be swimming in money after this job.
glosses: To have a great quantity of something.
Derived terms: can a duck swim
do fish swim
faster than a minnow can swim a dipper
I can't swim
quicker than a minnow can swim a dipper
sink or swim
swimfant
swim like a fish
swimmer
swimsuit
swim the Thames
swim the Tiber
swim upstream
swim with sharks