swap
Part of speech: verb
noun
Morphological type: simple
Topics: business
computing
engineering
finance
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
Etymology: From Middle English swappen (“to swap”), originally meaning "to hurl" or "to strike", the word alludes to striking hands together when making an exchange; probably from Old English *swappian, a secondary form of Old English swāpan (“to swoop”). Cognate with German schwappen (“to slosh, slop”). Compare also Middle English swippen (“to strike, hit”), from Old English swipian (“to scourge, strike, beat, lash”), Old Norse svipa (“to swoop, flash, whip, look after, look around”). More at swipe.
Inflected forms:
form: swaps
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: swapping
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: swapped
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: swapped
pos: verb
tags: past
form: swop
pos: verb
tags: alternative
form: swaps
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: swop
pos: noun
tags: alternative
Senses:
gloss: To exchange or give (something) in an non-normal exchange (for something else).
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: In an effort to provide more permanent accommodations, employers may offer employees the opportunity either to swap jobs with a colleague or to transfer to a new position.
Chief watched these goings-on without pleasure, and waved them off in disgust when the smarmiest of the two suggested he might wish to swap that elk's tooth for this jug of fine rye whiskey.
The Shah wanted to swap oil for more arms.
gloss: To hit, to strike.
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
transitive
examples: And he whipped his sword out of its scabbard, and swapped off the pudding from the black knight's nose. Unfortunately (for him) he swapped off a good bit of the nose, too.
"Maybe Apes will grow honest, Sister," said Edmund. "But, by the Lion, if he breaks it again, it may be in such time and place that any of us could swap off his head in clean battle."
gloss: To beat the air, or ply the wings, with a sweeping motion or noise; to flap.
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
transitive
gloss: To descend or fall; to rush hastily or violently.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
obsolete
gloss: An exchange of two comparable things.
pos: noun
examples: I e’en changed it, as occasion served, with the skippers o’ Dutch luggers and French vessels, for gin and brandy[…] a gude swap too, between what cheereth the soul of man and that which dingeth it clean out of his body
Flores' nephews were each sentenced to 18 years' imprisonment in 2017 for conspiring to import cocaine, but they were released in 2022 by the Biden Administration as part of a prisoner swap with Venezuela.
gloss: A financial derivative in which two parties agree to exchange one stream of non-normal cashflow against another stream.
pos: noun
gloss: Space available in a swap file for use as auxiliary memory.
pos: noun
tags: informal
uncountable
examples: How much swap do you need?
gloss: A social meal at a restaurant between two university societies, usually involving drinking and banter; commonly associated with fining and pennying; equivalent to a crewdate at Oxford University.
pos: noun
Synonyms: switch
knock
tap
speed
zoom
Derived words: face-swap
outswap
swap horses in midstream
swap over
swappable
swapper
swap places
swap spit
toswap
unswapped
blue chip swap
bodyswap
bookswap
cookie swap
cum swap
cumswap
face swap
formal swap
full swap
genderswap
hard swap
hot swap
interest rate swap
K-swap
language swap
LS-swap
mindswap
mixed swap
palette swap
prisoner swap
SIM swap
soft swap
swap body
swapbody
swap box
swap chain
swap file
swaplet
swap line
swapling
swaplist
swap meet
swapmeet
swaporama
swap partition
swappiness
swapportunity
swap shop
swapsies
swap space
swaption
tax swap
Tesla-swap
Yankee swap
Translations: