swing

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a sweeping blow or stroke

   They took a wild swing at my head.

2. 2
   noun

   a state of steady vigorous action that is characteristic of an activity

   the party went with a swing

3. 3
   verb

   alternate dramatically between high and low values

   Their mood swings almost manically.

4. 4
   verb

   hit or aim at with a sweeping arm movement

   The soccer player began to swing at the referee

5. 5
   verb

   engage freely in promiscuous sex, often with the husband or wife of one's friends

   There were many swinging couples in the 1960's

6. 6
   verb

   live in a lively, modern, and relaxed style

   The Woodstock generation attempted to swing freely

7. 7
   verb

   have a certain musical rhythm

   The music has to swing

8. 8
   verb

   To rotate about an off-centre fixed point.

   The plant swung in the breeze.

Etymology

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.