swarf
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /swɔːf/
ipa: /swɔɹf/
rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)f
rhymes: -ɔːf
Forms: form: swarfs
Etymology: From Middle English *swarf, *swerf, from Old English ġeswearf, ġesweorf (“iron filings; rust”) and/or Old Norse svarf (“metallic dust”), both from Proto-Germanic *swarbą (“that which is rubbed off; shavings”), from Proto-Germanic *swerbaną (“to mop, wipe; to rub off”); see further at swerve. The word is cognate to Old English sweorfan (“to rub, scour; to file”).
Senses: examples: text: Filings of iron, called Swarf, the barrel — — 0 [shillings] 2 [pence]
ref: 1770, Samuel Baldwin, “The Package Table of Rates Outwards”, in A Survey of the British Customs; Containing the Rates of Merchandize as Established by 12 Car. II. C. 4, 11 Geo. I. C. 7, and Other Statutes; with Tables of the Net Duties, Drawbacks, Bounties, &c. Payable thereon, under All Circumstances of Importation and Exportation. Also a Distinct and Practical Account of the Several Branches of the Revenue Called the Customs. With an Appendix, Containing an Abstract of All the Laws now in Force Relative to the Customs. The Whole Continued to the End of the Session of 9 Geo. III, London: Printed for J[ohn] Nourse, bookseller in ordinary to His Majesty, opposite Catherine-Street, in the Strand, →OCLC, page 43:
text: The softest and almost the cleanest iron for turning for cotton and other machinery is made from wrought iron swarf (or turnings). Sometimes the swarf is worked by itself, but commonly a ball is made of good swarf, and while hot, fine swarf is thrown into the furnace, and the ball is rolled about so that the swarf adheres to it, and it is then taken to the hammer.
ref: 1866, John Henry Pepper, “Iron”, in The Playbook of Metals: Including Personal Narratives of Visits to Coal, Lead, Copper, and Tin Mines; with a Large Number of Interesting Experiments Relating to Alchemy and the Chemistry of the Fifty Metallic Elements, new edition, London; New York, N.Y.: George Routledge and Sons, Broadway, Ludgate Hill; New York, 129, Grand Street, →OCLC, page 372:
text: As sandpaper is pushed across wood, the abrasive grains dig into the surface and cut out minute shavings, which are called swarf in industry jargon.
ref: 2004, Strother Purdy, “Making Sense of Sandpaper”, in Traditional Finishing Techniques (The New Best of Fine Woodworking), Newtown, Conn.: Taunton Press, →ISBN, section 1 (Surface Preparation), page 5:
text: Turning of the internal features of horn antennas is an operation where particular attention must be paid to swarf control. Techniques such as the use of extreme flood coolant, interrupting the feed to break swarf, and regular withdrawals of the tool to clear the working area may be necessary, particular on CNC [computer numerical control] machines where the operator has no "feel" or sight of the process.
ref: 2008, Christophe Granet, Graeme L. James, A. Ross Forsyth, “Aperture Antennas: Waveguides and Horns”, in Constantine A. Balanis, editor, Modern Antenna Handbook, Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, section 3.5.4.3 (Swarf Control and Removal):
glosses: The waste chips or shavings from an abrasive activity, such as metalworking, a saw cutting wood, or the use of a grindstone or whetstone.
examples: text: These swarfs, especially if they are of the tin bronze type, can usually be re-melted, after passing over a magnetic separator, by adding a small percentage to each charge of the alloy issued to the foundry for melting.
ref: 1940, The Metal Industry: An Illustrated Weekly Journal Dealing with Non-ferrous Metals, volume 56, London: Louis Cassier Company, →OCLC, page 456, column 1:
text: Harrogate looked at the ground. A black swarf packed with small parts in a greasy mosaic.
ref: 1979 May, Cormac McCarthy, Suttree, New York, N.Y.: Random House; republished as Suttree (Vintage Contemporaries), 1st Vintage International edition, New York, N.Y.: Vintage Books, 1986, →ISBN, page 95:
text: When the uncut swarf thickness increases beyond the minimum swarf thickness, the elastic deformation phenomena decrease significantly and the entire depth of cut is removed as a swarf as shown in Fig. 9.9c.
ref: 2017, Yoshimi Ito, Takashi Matsumura, “Mechanisms for Metal Cutting and Grinding”, in Theory and Practice in Machining Systems, Cham, Switzerland: Springer Nature, →DOI, →ISBN, page 226:
glosses: A particular waste chip or shaving.
Synonyms: sense: chips or shavings
word: turnings
Related terms: swerve
kerf