swing - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

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.

swing (third-person singular simple present swings, present participle swinging, simple past swung or (archaic or dialectal) swang, past participle swung or (archaic or dialectal) swang or (archaic) swungen)

  1. (intransitive) To rotate about an off-centre fixed point.
    Troponyms: pivot, swivel
    The plant swung in the breeze.
    • 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:
      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.
    • 2012 February 29, Troy Denning, Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Apocalypse‎[1], Random House, →ISBN, page 3:
      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.
    • 2023 February 10, Rob Smyth, “Pep Guardiola comes out swinging haymakers in all directions”, in The Guardian‎[2], archived from the original on 20 March 2023:
      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.
  2. (intransitive) To dance.
  3. (intransitive) To ride on a swing.
    The children laughed as they swung.
  4. (intransitive, sex) To participate in the swinging lifestyle; to participate in wifeswapping.
    • 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[3], →ISSN:
      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.
    • 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[4], →ISSN:
      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.
  5. (intransitive) To hang from the gallows; to be punished by hanging, swing for something or someone; (often hyperbolic) to be severely punished.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:die by hanging
    • 1891, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Red-Headed League:
      “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.
  6. (intransitive, cricket, of a ball) To move sideways in its trajectory.
  7. (transitive, cricket) (of a bowler) To make the ball move sideways in its trajectory.
  8. (intransitive) To fluctuate or change.
    It wasn't long before the crowd's mood swung towards restless irritability.
  9. (transitive) To move (an object) backward and forward; to wave.
    He swung his sword as hard as he could.
  10. (transitive) To change (a numerical result); especially to change the outcome of an election.
  11. (transitive, slang) To make (something) work; especially to afford (something) financially.
    If it’s not too expensive, I think we can swing it.
  12. (transitive, music) 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.
  13. (transitive and intransitive, boxing) To move one's arm in a punching motion.
  14. (transitive) In dancing, to turn around in a small circle with one's partner, holding hands or arms.
    "to swing one's partner", or simply "to swing"
  15. (transitive, engineering) To admit or turn something for the purpose of shaping it; said of a lathe.
    The lathe can swing a pulley of 12 inches diameter.
  16. (transitive, carpentry) To put (a door, gate, etc.) on hinges so that it can swing or turn.
  17. (nautical) To turn round by action of wind or tide when at anchor.
    A ship swings with the tide.
  18. To turn in a different direction.
  1. To be sexually oriented.

to rotate about an off-centre fixed point

to dance

to ride on a swing

to hang on gallows

cricket: of a ball, to move sideways in its trajectory

to move an object backward and forward

music: to produce a bouncy, uneven rhythm

cricket: to make the ball move sideways in its trajectory

Translations to be checked

These kids are playing on swings (noun sense 5).

swing (countable and uncountable, plural swings)

  1. The act, or an instance, of swinging.
    • 1913, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Return of Tarzan, New York: Ballantine Books, published 1963, page 119:
      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.
  2. The manner in which something is swung.
    He worked tirelessly to improve his golf swing.
    Door swing indicates direction the door opens.
    the swing of a pendulum
    • 2008 January–February, “70 Ways to Improve Every Day of the Week”, in Men's Health, volume 23, number 1, →ISSN, page 135:
      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.
  3. The sweep or compass of a swinging body.
  4. A line, cord, or other thing suspended and hanging loose, upon which anything may swing.
  5. 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.
    Hyponym: tire swing
    • 2014 August 22, “German sex-swing enthusiast evicted from flat after noise complaints”, in The Guardian‎[5], sourced from Associated Press, →ISSN:
      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.
  6. An energetic and acrobatic late-1930s partner-based dance style, also known as jitterbug and lindy-hop.
  7. (music) The genre of music associated with this dance style.
    • 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:
      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.
  8. The amount of change towards or away from something.
    • 1853, Elizabeth Gaskell, Cranford:
      Miss Pole came round with a swing to as vehement a belief in the sorrowful tale as she had been sceptical before […]
    1. (politics) In an election, the increase or decrease in the number of votes for opposition parties compared with votes for the incumbent party.
      The polls showed a wide swing to Labour.
  9. (cricket) Sideways movement of the ball as it flies through the air.
  10. Capacity of a turning lathe, as determined by the diameter of the largest object that can be turned in it.
  11. (theater) In a musical theater production, a performer who understudies several roles.
  1. A basic dance step in which a pair link hands and turn round together in a circle.
  2. The maximum amount of change that has occurred or can occur; the sum of the maximum changes in any direction.
  1. (obsolete) Free course; unrestrained liberty.
  1. Influence or power of anything put in motion.
  2. (boxing) A type of hook with the arm more extended.

hanging seat

dance style

music style

sideways movement of a cricket ball as it flies through the air

diameter that a lathe can cut

substitute musical theater performer

type of hook in boxing

swing m inan

  1. swing (dance)

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Borrowed from English swing.

swing m (plural swings)

  1. swing; several senses

Unadapted borrowing from English swing.

swing m (invariable)

  1. swing (music and dance style; golf swing)

Unadapted borrowing from English swing.

swing m (plural swings)

  1. swing (a dance and music style)
  2. swinging (exchange of partners for sex)

Unadapted borrowing from English swing.

swing n (uncountable)

  1. swing

Unadapted borrowing from English swing.

swing m (plural swings)

  1. swing (dance)

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.