swim

Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Jump to navigation Jump to search
See also: Swim and SWIM

English[edit]

woman swimming
Video of men swimming

Etymology 1[edit]

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 swoon, lose consciousness, swim”), from Proto-Indo-European *swem(bʰ)- (“to be unsteady, move, swim”).

Cognates
Cognate with Scots sweem, soom (“to swim”), Saterland Frisian swimme (“to swim”), West Frisian swimme (“to swim, float”), Dutch zwemmen (“to swim”), German schwimmen (“to swim”), Norwegian Bokmål and Danish svømme (“to swim”), Swedish simma (“to swim”), Norwegian Nynorsk symja (“to swim”).

Pronunciation[edit]

Verb[edit]

swim (third-person singular simple present swims, present participle swimming, simple past swam or (archaic) swum, past participle swum)

  1. (intransitive) To move through the water, without touching the bottom; to propel oneself in water by natural means.
    • 1720, Daniel Defoe, Captain Singleton, London: J. Brotherton, p. 87,[1]
      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 […]
    • 1963, Margery Allingham, “Foreword”, in The China Governess‎[2]:
      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.
    • 2020 May 20, Paul Stephen, “NR beats floods to secure tracks to Drax”, in Rail, page 59:
      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".
  2. (intransitive) To become immersed in, or as if in, or flooded with, or as if with, a liquid
    swimming in self-pity
    a bare few bits of meat swimming in watery sauce
  3. (intransitive) To move around freely because of excess space.
    • 1777, The Poetical Preceptor; Or, a Collection of Select Pieces of Poetry, Etc
      A fam'd Sur-tout he wears, which once was blue, / And his foot swims in a capacious shoe.
  4. (transitive) To traverse (a specific body of water, or a specific distance) by swimming; or, to utilize a specific swimming stroke; or, to compete in a specific swimming event.
    For exercise, we like to swim laps around the pool.
    I want to swim the 200-yard breaststroke in the finals.
  5. (transitive, uncommon) To cause to swim.
    to swim a horse across a river
    Half of the guinea pigs were swum daily.
  6. (intransitive, archaic) To float.
    sink or swim
  7. (intransitive) To be overflowed or drenched.
  8. (transitive) To immerse in water to make the lighter parts float.
    to swim wheat in order to select seed
  9. (transitive, historical) To test (a suspected witch) by throwing into a river; those who floated rather than sinking were deemed to be witches.
  10. (intransitive) To glide along with a waving motion.
Conjugation[edit]
conjugation of swim
infinitive swim
present participle swimming
past participle swum
simple progressive perfect perfect progressive
present I swim we swim I am swimming we are swimming I have swum we have swum I have been swimming we have been swimming
you swim you swim you are swimming you are swimming you have swum you have swum you have been swimming you have been swimming
he swims they swim he is swimming they are swimming he has swum they have swum he has been swimming they have been swimming
past I swam we swam I was swimming we were swimming I had swum we had swum I had been swimming we had been swimming
you swam you swam you were swimming you were swimming you had swum you had swum you had been swimming you had been swimming
he swam they swam he was swimming they were swimming he had swum they had swum he had been swimming they had been swimming
future I will swim we will swim I will be swimming we will be swimming I will have swum we will have swum I will have been swimming we will have been swimming
you will swim you will swim you will be swimming you will be swimming you will have swum you will have swum you will have been swimming you will have been swimming
he will swim they will swim he will be swimming they will be swimming he will have swum they will have swum he will have been swimming they will have been swimming
conditional I would swim we would swim I would be swimming we would be swimming I would have swum we would have swum I would have been swimming we would have been swimming
you would swim you would swim you would be swimming you would be swimming you would have swum you would have swum you would have been swimming you would have been swimming
he would swim they would swim he would be swimming they would be swimming he would have swum they would have swum he would have been swimming they would have been swimming
imperative swim
Usage notes[edit]
  • In Late Middle English and Early Modern English, the present participle form swimmand still sometimes occurred in Midlands and Northern dialects, for exampleː
    • The water to nourish the fish swimmand. (The Towneley plays)
    • Their young child Troiane, as swift as dolphin fish, swimmand away. (1513, Gavin Douglas, Virgil's Aeneid)
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]

Noun[edit]

swim (plural swims)

  1. An act or instance of swimming.
    I'm going for a swim.
  2. The sound, or air bladder, of a fish.
  3. (UK) A part of a stream much frequented by fish.
  4. A dance move of the 1960s in which the arms are moved in a freestyle swimming manner.
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

From Middle English swime, sweme, swaime (“a dizziness, swoon, trance”), from Old English swima (“a swoon, swimming in the head”).

Noun[edit]

swim (plural swims)

  1. A dizziness; swoon.

Verb[edit]

swim (third-person singular simple present swims, present participle swimming, simple past swam or (archaic) swum, past participle swum)

  1. (intransitive) To be dizzy or vertiginous; have a giddy sensation; to have, or appear to have, a whirling motion.
    • 1837, Letitia Elizabeth Landon, Ethel Churchill, volume 1, page 291:
      She snatched the letter from Sir Jasper, who started as her icy hand touched his: she attempted to read the passage herself, but the letters seemed to swim before her gaze: they turned to fire; the paper dropped from her grasp; a thick mist appeared to gather over the room; she gave a convulsive shudder, and dropped on the floor perfectly insensible.
    My head was swimming after drinking two bottles of cheap wine.

Etymology 3[edit]

Abbreviation of someone who isn't me.

Noun[edit]

swim (plural not attested)

  1. (Internet slang, text messaging) Abbreviation of someone who isn't me. used as a way to avoid self-designation or self-incrimination, especially in online drug forums

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  • swim at OneLook Dictionary Search
Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=swim&oldid=67062576"