swim
Part of speech: verb
noun
Morphological type: simple
Etymology: From Middle English swymmen, from Old English swimman (“to swim, float”) (class III strong verb; past tense swamm, past participle geswummen), from Proto-West Germanic *swimman, from Proto-Germanic *swimmaną (“to swim”), from Proto-Indo-European *swem(bʰ)- (“to be unsteady, move, swim”).
Cognates
Cognate with North Frisian sweem, swome, swume, swumi, swumme, swääm (“to swim”), Saterland Frisian and West Frisian swimme (“to swim”), Dutch zwemmen (“to swim”), German schwimmen (“to swim”), Limburgish schwämme, zwömme (“to swim”), Low German swimmen (“to swim”), Luxembourgish schwammen (“to swim”), Vilamovian švymma, śwyma, śwymma (“to swim”), Yiddish שווימען (shvimen, “to swim”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål svømme (“to swim”), Faroese svimja (“to swim”), Norn suma (“to swim”), Norwegian Nynorsk svemja, svemje, svømma, svømme, symja, symje (“to swim”), Swedish simma (“to swim”).
Inflected forms:
form: swims
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: swimming
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: swam
pos: verb
tags: past
form: swum
pos: verb
tags: archaic
past
form: swum
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: no-table-tags
pos: verb
tags: table-tags
form: glossary
pos: verb
tags: inflection-template
form: swim
pos: verb
tags: infinitive
form: swim
pos: verb
tags: first-person
present
singular
form: swam
pos: verb
tags: first-person
past
singular
form: swum
pos: verb
tags: archaic
first-person
past
singular
form: swim
pos: verb
tags: present
second-person
singular
form: swam
pos: verb
tags: past
second-person
singular
form: swum
pos: verb
tags: archaic
past
second-person
singular
form: swammest
pos: verb
tags: archaic
past
second-person
singular
form: swims
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: swam
pos: verb
tags: past
singular
third-person
form: swum
pos: verb
tags: archaic
past
singular
third-person
form: swim
pos: verb
tags: plural
present
form: swam
pos: verb
tags: past
plural
form: swum
pos: verb
tags: archaic
past
plural
form: swim
pos: verb
tags: present
subjunctive
form: swam
pos: verb
tags: past
subjunctive
form: swum
pos: verb
tags: archaic
past
subjunctive
form: swim
pos: verb
tags: imperative
present
form: -
pos: verb
tags: imperative
past
form: swimming
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: swimmand
pos: verb
tags: archaic
participle
present
form: swum
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: swum
pos: verb
tags: archaic
participle
past
form: swims
pos: noun
tags: plural
Senses:
gloss: To move through the water, without touching the bottom; to propel oneself in water by natural means.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: We were now all upon a Level, as to our travelling; being unshipp’d, for our Bark would swim no farther, and she was too heavy to carry on our Backs […]
He turned back to the scene before him and the enormous new block of council dwellings. The design was some way after Corbusier but the block was built up on plinths and resembled an Atlantic liner swimming diagonally across the site.
Meanwhile, NR faced an unexpected challenge when a night watchman spotted several Koi Carp swimming in floodwater close to the railway, after they had escaped from a nearby private residence. Wilson says the owner was eventually traced, and the fish were safely returned "after enjoying swimming around in a 3,000-acre lake".
gloss: To become immersed in, or as if in, or flooded with, or as if with, a liquid.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: swimming in self-pity
a bare few bits of meat swimming in watery sauce
gloss: To move around freely because of excess space.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: A fam'd Sur-tout he wears, which once was blue, / And his foot swims in a capacious shoe.
gloss: To traverse (a specific body of water, or a specific distance) by swimming; or, to use a specific swimming stroke; or, to compete in a specific swimming event.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: For exercise, we like to swim laps around the pool.
I want to swim the 200-yard breaststroke in the finals.
Sometimes he thought to swim the stormy main.
gloss: To cause to swim.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
uncommon
examples: to swim a horse across a river
Half of the guinea pigs were swum daily.
gloss: To float.
pos: verb
tags: archaic
intransitive
examples: sink or swim
There's oil swimming on the water.
Why, now, blow wind, swell billow, and swim bark!
The storm is up and all is on the hazard.
And he cut down a stick, and cast it in thither; and the iron did swim.
gloss: To be overflowed or drenched.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: I am weary with my groaning; all the night make I my bed to swim; I water my couch with my tears.
Sudden, the ditches ſwell; the meadows ſwim.
gloss: To immerse in water to make the lighter parts float.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: to swim wheat in order to select seed
gloss: To test (a suspected witch) by throwing into a river; those who floated rather than sinking were deemed to be witches.
pos: verb
tags: historical
transitive
gloss: To glide along with a waving motion.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
gloss: To have a great quantity of something.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: You should be swimming in money after this job.
gloss: An act or instance of swimming.
pos: noun
examples: I'm going for a swim.
She had a quick swim in the bay.
gloss: The sound, or air bladder, of a fish.
pos: noun
gloss: A part of a stream much frequented by fish.
pos: noun
tags: UK
gloss: A dance or dance move of the 1960s in which the arms are moved in imitation of various swimming strokes, such as freestyle, breaststroke, etc.
pos: noun
examples: C'mon everybody! C'mon in!
Bobby's goin' to show you how to do the swim.
gloss: The flow of events; being in the swim of things.
pos: noun
tags: figuratively
examples: With the road ahead now clear, Mann […] is plunging back into the swim of business in a hurry.
Derived words: aswim
can a duck swim
do fish swim
faster than a minnow can swim a dipper
I can't swim
outswim
overswim
quicker than a minnow can swim a dipper
reswim
sink or swim
swimfant
swim like a fish
swimmability
swimmable
swimmer
swimmist
swimmy
swimnastic
swimnastics
swimsuit
swim the Thames
swim the Tiber
swim upstream
swim with sharks
upswim
in the swim
in the swim of things
midswim
polar bear swim
postswim
preswim
swimathon
swimbait
swim bladder
swim brief
swim briefs
swimcap
swim cap
swim diaper
swimfin
swim fin
swim-in
swim lane
swimline
swimmate
swim meet
swim nappy
swim-off
swim platform
swim ring
swimrun
swimshirt
swimshorts
swim trunks
swimway
swimwear
wim nappy
Translations: