swim

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See also: SWIM

English[edit]

woman swimming

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English swimmen, from Old English swimman (“to swim, float”) (class III strong verb; past tense swamm, past participle geswummen), from Proto-Germanic *swimmaną (“to swoon, lose consciousness, swim”). Cognate with West Frisian swimme (“to swim, float”), Dutch zwemmen (“to swim”), German schwimmen (“to swim”), Danish svømme (“to swim”), Swedish simma (“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, archaic) To float.
    sink or swim
    • 2 Kings VI:6 (KJV)
      And he cut down a stick, and cast it in thither; and the iron did swim.
    • Wm. Shakespeare, Julius Caesar
      Why, now, blow wind, swell billow, and swim bark! The storm is up and all is on the hazard.
  2. (intransitive) To move through the water, without touching the bottom; to propel oneself in water by natural means.
    • 1963, Margery Allingham, “Foreword”, in The China Governess[1]:
      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.
  3. (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.
    • Dryden
      Sometimes he thought to swim the stormy main.
  4. (uncommon) To cause to swim.
    to swim a horse across a river
    Half of the guinea pigs were swum daily.
  5. (intransitive) To be overflowed or drenched.
    • Psalm VI:6 (KJV)
      I am weary with my groaning; all the night make I my bed to swim; I water my couch with my tears.
    • Thomson
      Sudden the ditches swell, the meadows swim.
  6. (transitive) To immerse in water to make the lighter parts float.
    to swim wheat in order to select seed

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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.

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