swing

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To move back and forth or in a curve from a fixed point.

   The monkey swung from branch to branch.

2. 2
   verb

   To move your arm in a wide curve to hit or aim at something.

   He swung at the ball but missed.

3. 3
   noun

   A swinging blow or stroke made with the arm.

   He took a wild swing at the punching bag.

4. 4
   verb

   To change suddenly between high and low levels or moods.

   Her moods swing from joy to despair within minutes.

Multiword verbs with swing

• swing around Phrasal verb B2

  to turn quickly to face another direction

• swing at Prepositional verb B2

  to move an arm or object in a curve in an attempt to hit a target

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Swing comes from Old English, where it meant both “to beat or whip” and “to rush or fling oneself.” The noun sense referring to a playground swing dates from the late 17th century. From the late 19th century swing also denoted an easy-flowing but vigorous rhythm, especially in jazz. In the 1930s a swinger was a jazz musician who played with swing; in the 1960s the word came to mean both a lively, fashionable person and someone involved in partner-swapping or group sex.

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.

Topics

External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary