switch
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: enpr: swĭch
ipa: /swɪt͡ʃ/
rhymes: -ɪtʃ
Forms: form: switches
form: switching
form: switched
form: switched
Etymology: Perhaps from Middle Dutch swijch (“twig”), first attested in c. 1592. The mechanical device for altering the direction of something sense is first attested in c. 1797, pertaining to pivoted rails on minecart railways, which were once wooden.
Senses: examples: text: A “moving platform” scheme[…]is more technologically ambitious than maglev trains even though it relies on conventional rails. Local trains would use side-by-side rails to roll alongside intercity trains and allow passengers to switch trains by stepping through docking bays.
ref: 2013 June 1, “Ideas coming down the track”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8838, page 13 (Technology Quarterly):
text: I want to switch this red dress for a green one.
glosses: To exchange.
examples: text: Switch the light on.
glosses: To change (something) to the specified state using a switch.
examples: text: They were looking on the ground, absorbed in thought. The manager was switching his leg with a slender twig: his sagacious relative lifted his head.
ref: 1899 March, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number MI, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part II:
glosses: To whip or hit with a switch.
raw_tags: in modern times Southern US
examples: text: I want to switch to a different seat.
glosses: To change places, tasks, etc.
glosses: To get angry suddenly; to quickly or unreasonably become enraged.
examples: to switch a cane
glosses: To swing or whisk.
examples: text: The angry cat's tail switched back and forth.
glosses: To be swung or whisked.
examples: text: Switch and clip thorn and other deciduous hedges.
ref: 1811, Walter Nicol, The Planters Kalendar:
glosses: To trim.
examples: to switch off a train; to switch a car from one track to another
glosses: To turn from one railway track to another; to transfer by a switch; generally with off, from, etc.
topics: ecclesiastical
lifestyle
religion
glosses: To shift to another circuit.
examples: text: Feel free to ask her to follow, lead, or switch!
ref: 2023 February 18 (last accessed), “Heather Lombardi”, in The Dancing Fools, archived from the original on 18 Feb 2023:
glosses: To take on the opposite role (leader vs. follower) in a partner dance.
examples: text: After they switched the ball across their back half, Hurley found the hard-running Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti, who in turn hit up Stewart. Then the big man produced a moment of inspiration, taking on his defender before chipping the ball to Daniher, who goaled.
ref: 2018 April 15, Sarah Harrington, “Essendon defeats Port Adelaide: Jake Stringer's brilliance personifies the Bombers' response to a tough week”, in Fox Footy, Melbourne, retrieved 27 May 2025:
topics: hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: To move (the ball or equivalent) from one side of the playing area to the other.
Synonyms: sense: to exchange
word: interchange
word: swap
word: commute
word: counterchange
word: exchange
word: replace
word: shift
word: substitute
word: switch
word: transpose
Hyponyms: word: hot-swap
word: swap in
word: swap out
word: trade
Derived terms: code-switch
switch codes
switch gears
switch out
switch tack
switch teams
switch up
Related terms: word: reciprocate