swing
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈswɪŋ/
rhymes: -ɪŋ
Forms: form: swings
form: swinging
form: swung
form: swang
form: swung
form: swang
form: swungen
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: The plant swung in the breeze.
text: With one accord the tribe swung rapidly toward the frightened cries, and there found Terkoz holding an old female by the hair and beating her unmercifully with his great hands.
ref: 1912 October, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “Tarzan of the Apes”, in The All-Story, New York, N.Y.: Frank A. Munsey Co., →OCLC; republished as chapter 12, in Tarzan of the Apes, New York, N.Y.: A[lbert] L[evi] Burt Company, June 1914, →OCLC:
text: The starliner swung into orbit around the planet Coruscant, and beyond the observation bubble appeared a glittering expanse of a billion golden lights. Through a thousand centuries of strife, those lights continued to shine.
ref: 2012 February 29, Troy Denning, Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Apocalypse, Random House, →ISBN, page 3:
troponyms: pivot
swivel
glosses: To rotate about an off-centre fixed point.
glosses: To dance.
examples: text: The children laughed as they swung.
glosses: To ride on a swing.
examples: text: We find it difficult to meet couples our age, and often swing with single, straight men. We have rules: no married guys cheating on their wives, no one too young or too old, and no one who supports Trump.
ref: 2017 October 13, anonymous author, “My life in sex: ‘We have rules for swinging: no one cheating on their wives, no one who supports Trump’”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:
text: My husband wasn’t so lucky and didn’t get to swing at all so was very disappointed. I’m desperate to do it all again but he’s not so keen.
ref: 2023 October 26, Eleanor Gordon-Smith, anonymous quotee, “My husband persuaded me to swing. I’m desperate to do it again, he’s not – what should I do?”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:
topics: lifestyle
sex
sexuality
glosses: To participate in the swinging lifestyle; to participate in wifeswapping.
examples: text: “It's all clear,” he whispered. “Have you the chisel and the bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!”
Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts.
ref: 1891, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Red-Headed League:
synonyms: word: dance on a rope
word: dance on nothing
word: dance the hempen jig
word: dance the Tyburn jig
word: dance upon nothing
word: dangle
word: hang
word: ride a horse foaled by an acorn
word: stretch hemp
word: string up
word: swing
word: take a ride to Tyburn
word: trine
word: truss
word: wag hemp
glosses: To hang from the gallows; to be punished by hanging, swing for something or someone; (often hyperbolic) to be severely punished.
topics: ball-games
cricket
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: To move sideways in its trajectory.
raw_tags: of a ball
topics: ball-games
cricket
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: (of a bowler) To make the ball move sideways in its trajectory.
examples: text: It wasn't long before the crowd's mood swung towards restless irritability.
glosses: To fluctuate or change.
examples: text: He swung his sword as hard as he could.
glosses: To move (an object) backward and forward; to wave.
glosses: To change (a numerical result); especially to change the outcome of an election.
examples: text: If it’s not too expensive, I think we can swing it.
glosses: To make (something) work; especially to afford (something) financially.
topics: entertainment
lifestyle
music
glosses: To play notes that are in pairs by making the first of the pair slightly longer than written (augmentation) and the second shorter, resulting in a bouncy, uneven rhythm.
topics: boxing
government
hobbies
lifestyle
martial-arts
military
politics
sports
war
glosses: To move one's arm in a punching motion.
examples: text: "to swing one's partner", or simply "to swing"
glosses: In dancing, to turn around in a small circle with one's partner, holding hands or arms.
examples: text: The lathe can swing a pulley of 12 inches diameter.
topics: engineering
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
glosses: To admit or turn something for the purpose of shaping it; said of a lathe.
topics: business
carpentry
construction
manufacturing
glosses: To put (a door, gate, etc.) on hinges so that it can swing or turn.
examples: text: A ship swings with the tide.
topics: nautical
transport
glosses: To turn round by action of wind or tide when at anchor.
examples: text: Soon after departure, we cross the invisible border into Scotland to enjoy more stunning coastal scenery, before the line finally swings inland at Burnmouth to traverse pine-clad valleys, shadowed by the A1 trunk road until we rejoin the coast at Cove, east of Dunbar.
ref: 2022 November 30, Paul Bigland, “Destination Oban: a Sunday in Scotland”, in RAIL, number 971, page 75:
glosses: To turn in a different direction.
examples: text: swing both ways
text: "The Jumping Place," the second play we did, was directed by the author, and the whole cast of seven was straight. We don't ask when somebody comes here how they swing, only that they commit themselves to the principles of the theatre.
ref: 1977 February 12, Don Shewey, John Glines, “Theatre Profiles Part II”, in Gay Community News, volume 4, number 33, page 9:
glosses: To be sexually oriented.
Coordinate terms: sense: be executed by hanging
word: fry
Derived terms: at church every time the doors swing open
come out swinging
mis-swing
not enough room to swing a cat
overswing
swing at anchor
swing away
swing back
swing both ways
swing by
swing for
swing for the fence
swing for the fences
swing into action
swingle
swing off
swing one's dick around
swing out
swing over
swing round the circle
swing tag
swing that way
swing the lead
swing through
swing-wing
swing wing