swing
Part of speech: verb
noun
Morphological type: simple
Topics: ball-games
boxing
business
carpentry
construction
cricket
engineering
entertainment
games
government
hobbies
lifestyle
manufacturing
martial-arts
military
music
natural-sciences
nautical
physical-sciences
politics
sex
sexuality
sports
theater
transport
war
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.
Inflected forms:
form: swings
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: swinging
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: swung
pos: verb
tags: past
form: swang
pos: verb
tags: archaic
dialectal
past
form: swung
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: swang
pos: verb
tags: archaic
dialectal
participle
past
form: swungen
pos: verb
tags: archaic
participle
past
form: swings
pos: noun
tags: plural
Senses:
gloss: To rotate about an off-centre fixed point.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: The plant swung in the breeze.
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.
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.
Guardiola swung haymakers in all directions; he presented one of the world’s richest clubs as a noble, put-upon underdog; and he established a siege mentality with such coruscating precision that Football Daily instantly bet the farm on City winning the Premier League this season.
gloss: To dance.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
gloss: To ride on a swing.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: The children laughed as they swung.
gloss: To participate in the swinging lifestyle; to participate in wifeswapping.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: 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.
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.
gloss: To hang from the gallows; to be punished by hanging, swing for something or someone; (often hyperbolic) to be severely punished.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: “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.
gloss: To move sideways in its trajectory.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
gloss: (of a bowler) To make the ball move sideways in its trajectory.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
gloss: To fluctuate or change.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: It wasn't long before the crowd's mood swung towards restless irritability.
gloss: To move (an object) backward and forward; to wave.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: He swung his sword as hard as he could.
gloss: To change (a numerical result); especially to change the outcome of an election.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
gloss: To make (something) work; especially to afford (something) financially.
pos: verb
tags: slang
transitive
examples: If it’s not too expensive, I think we can swing it.
gloss: 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.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
gloss: To move one's arm in a punching motion.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
transitive
gloss: In dancing, to turn around in a small circle with one's partner, holding hands or arms.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: "to swing one's partner", or simply "to swing"
gloss: To admit or turn something for the purpose of shaping it; said of a lathe.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: The lathe can swing a pulley of 12 inches diameter.
gloss: To put (a door, gate, etc.) on hinges so that it can swing or turn.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
gloss: To turn round by action of wind or tide when at anchor.
pos: verb
examples: A ship swings with the tide.
gloss: To turn in a different direction.
pos: verb
examples: 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.
gloss: To be sexually oriented.
pos: verb
examples: swing both ways
"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.
gloss: The act, or an instance, of swinging.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: 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.
gloss: The manner in which something is swung.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: He worked tirelessly to improve his golf swing.
Door swing indicates direction the door opens.
the swing of a pendulum
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.
gloss: The sweep or compass of a swinging body.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: A line, cord, or other thing suspended and hanging loose, upon which anything may swing.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: 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.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: To Edward […] he was terrible, nerve-inflaming, poisonously asphyxiating. He sat rocking himself in the late Mr. Churchill's swing chair, smoking and twaddling.
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.
gloss: An energetic and acrobatic late-1930s partner-based dance style, also known as jitterbug and lindy-hop.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: The genre of music associated with this dance style.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: 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.
gloss: The amount of change towards or away from something.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: Miss Pole came round with a swing to as vehement a belief in the sorrowful tale as she had been sceptical before […]
gloss: The amount of change towards or away from something.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: The polls showed a wide swing to Labour.
gloss: Sideways movement of the ball as it flies through the air.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: Capacity of a turning lathe, as determined by the diameter of the largest object that can be turned in it.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: In a musical theater production, a performer who understudies several roles.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: 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.
gloss: A basic dance step in which a pair link hands and turn round together in a circle.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: The maximum amount of change that has occurred or can occur; the sum of the maximum changes in any direction.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: 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.
gloss: Free course; unrestrained liberty.
pos: noun
tags: countable
obsolete
uncountable
examples: Take thy swing.
To prevent anything which may prove an obstacle on the full swing of his genius.
gloss: Influence or power of anything put in motion.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: A type of hook with the arm more extended.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
Derived words: aswing
at church every time the doors swing open
come out swinging
forswing
mis-swing
not enough room to swing a cat
overswing
swingable
swing at anchor
swing away
swing back
swingbin
swingboat
swing both ways
swingby
swing by
swinger
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
swingy
counterswing
outswing
upswing
away swing
backswing
bird's nest swing
check swing
check-swing
compass swing
downswing
electro swing
go with a swing
gypsy swing
in full swing
inswing
Kuznets swing
love swing
midswing
mood swing
neo-swing
new jack swing
new jill swing
porch swing
preswing
reverse swing
rope swing
Russian swing
sex swing
swing and a miss
swingarm
swing-back
swingball
swingbeat
swing bin
swing bridge
swing check valve
swing churn
swing credit
swing dance
swing dancing
swing dog
swing door
swingframe
swing gang
swing handle
swingless
swinglike
swingline
swing loan
swingman
swing motion
swing of things
swingometer
swingout
swing pan
swing plough
swing ride
swings and roundabouts
swing saw
swing set
swingset
swing shelf
swing shift
swing sickness
swing state
swing station
swingstock
swing-swang
swing table
swingtail
swing tool
swing trading
swingtree
swing trot
swing vote
swing voter
swing wheel
swop
tailswing
tail swing
Tarzan swing
tire swing
Western swing
what you lose on the swings you gain on the roundabouts
Translations:
lang: Finnish
word: lyödä kierre
lang: Bulgarian
word: суинг
roman: suing
lang: Czech
word: swing
lang: Dutch
word: swing
lang: Esperanto
word: svingo
lang: Finnish
word: swing
lang: French
word: swing
lang: Macedonian
word: свинг
roman: sving
lang: Portuguese
word: swing
lang: Russian
word: свинг
roman: sving
lang: Zazaki
word: hêlnayış
lang: Bulgarian
word: отклонение
roman: otklonenie
lang: Bulgarian
word: амплитуда
roman: amplituda
lang: Finnish
word: heilahdus
lang: French
word: variation
lang: Macedonian
word: за́мав
roman: zámav
lang: Russian
word: разма́х
roman: razmáx
lang: French
word: revirement
lang: Greek
word: μεταστροφή
roman: metastrofí