swing
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈswɪŋ/
rhymes: -ɪŋ
Forms: form: swings
Etymology: From Middle English swyngen, from Old English swingan, from Proto-West Germanic *swingan, from Proto-Germanic *swinganą (compare Low German swingen, German schwingen, Dutch zwingen, Swedish svinga), from Proto-Indo-European *swenk-, *sweng- (compare Scottish Gaelic seang (“thin”)). Related to swink.
Senses: examples: text: For a time he kept to the ground, but finally, discovering no spoor indicative of nearby meat, he took to the trees. With the first dizzy swing from tree to tree all the old joy of living swept over him. Vain regrets and dull heartache were forgotten. Now was he living. Now, indeed, was the true happiness of perfect freedom his.
ref: 1913, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Return of Tarzan, New York: Ballantine Books, published 1963, page 119:
glosses: The act, or an instance, of swinging.
examples: text: He worked tirelessly to improve his golf swing.
text: Door swing indicates direction the door opens.
text: the swing of a pendulum
text: Improve your golf swing by taking your mate to the driving range. If you're good, you can show off and give her some tips. If you stink, play it for laughs.
ref: 2008 January–February, “70 Ways to Improve Every Day of the Week”, in Men's Health, volume 23, number 1, →ISSN, page 135:
glosses: The manner in which something is swung.
glosses: The sweep or compass of a swinging body.
glosses: A line, cord, or other thing suspended and hanging loose, upon which anything may swing.
examples: text: To Edward […] he was terrible, nerve-inflaming, poisonously asphyxiating. He sat rocking himself in the late Mr. Churchill's swing chair, smoking and twaddling.
ref: 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
text: A German court has ruled that a landlord was within her rights to evict a man for persistently using a squeaky swing set as a sex prop in his flat late at night.
ref: 2014 August 22, “German sex-swing enthusiast evicted from flat after noise complaints”, in The Guardian, sourced from Associated Press, →ISSN:
glosses: A hanging seat that can swing back and forth, in a children's playground, for acrobats in a circus, or on a porch for relaxing.
glosses: An energetic and acrobatic late-1930s partner-based dance style, also known as jitterbug and lindy-hop.
examples: text: It makes no diff'rence / if it's sweet or hot. / Just give that rhythm / ev'rything you've got! / It don't mean a thing / if it ain't got that swing.
ref: 1931, “It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)”, Irving Mills (lyrics), Duke Ellington (music), performed by Ivie Anderson with Duke Ellington and His Famous Orchestra, Brunswick, catalog number 6265:
topics: entertainment
lifestyle
music
glosses: The genre of music associated with this dance style.
examples: text: Miss Pole came round with a swing to as vehement a belief in the sorrowful tale as she had been sceptical before […]
ref: 1853, Elizabeth Gaskell, Cranford:
glosses: The amount of change towards or away from something.
examples: text: The polls showed a wide swing to Labour.
topics: government
politics
glosses: The amount of change towards or away from something.
In an election, the increase or decrease in the number of votes for opposition parties compared with votes for the incumbent party.
topics: ball-games
cricket
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: Sideways movement of the ball as it flies through the air.
glosses: Capacity of a turning lathe, as determined by the diameter of the largest object that can be turned in it.
examples: text: I started as a swing. I mostly played Joanne and Mrs. Jefferson, the “Seasons of Love” soloist. I closed it out. So I was there for about the last four or five years.
ref: 2025 April 11, Stephen J. Dubner, quoting Crystal Monee Hall, “How Is Live Theater Still Alive?”, in Freakonomics Radio, number 629:
topics: entertainment
lifestyle
theater
glosses: In a musical theater production, a performer who understudies several roles.
glosses: A basic dance step in which a pair link hands and turn round together in a circle.
examples: text: Jesus' finishing has been one of the main concerns - since the start of last season the 23-year-old has underperformed his Premier League expected goals tally by 6.97goals ^([sic]) (in short, he has scored seven fewer goals than would be expected from the chances presented to him).
In contrast, Haaland is overperforming by 6.83 goals since joining Dortmund, which is almost a 14-goal swing between the pair.
ref: 2021 February 4, Raj Chohan, “Erling Braut Haaland: Would Man City, Liverpool, Man Utd or Chelsea suit striker best?”, in BBC Sport:
glosses: The maximum amount of change that has occurred or can occur; the sum of the maximum changes in any direction.
examples: text: Take thy swing.
ref: 1693, Decimus Junius Juvenalis, John Dryden, transl., “[The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis.] The Tenth Satyr”, in The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis. Translated into English Verse. […] Together with the Satires of Aulus Persius Flaccus. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson […], →OCLC:
text: To prevent anything which may prove an obstacle on the full swing of his genius.
ref: 1788, Edmund Burke, speech in the Impeachment of Warren Hastings:
glosses: Free course; unrestrained liberty.
glosses: Influence or power of anything put in motion.
topics: boxing
government
hobbies
lifestyle
martial-arts
military
politics
sports
war
glosses: A type of hook with the arm more extended.
Derived terms: away swing
bird's nest swing
check-swing
check swing
compass swing
electro swing
go with a swing
gypsy swing
in full swing
Kuznets swing
love swing
mood swing
neo-swing
new jack swing
new jill swing
porch swing
reverse swing
Russian swing
sex swing
swing and a miss
swing-back
swing bin
swing bridge
swing check valve
swing churn
swing credit
swing dance
swing dancing
swing dog
swing door
swing gang
swing handle
swing loan
swing motion
swing of things
swing pan
swing plough
swing ride
swings and roundabouts
swing saw
swing set
swing shelf
swing shift
swing sickness
swing state
swing station
swing-swang
swing table
swing tool
swing trot
swing vote
swing voter
swing wheel
tail swing
Tarzan swing
tire swing
Western swing
what you lose on the swings you gain on the roundabouts