switch

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A small device you press or move to turn electricity or a machine on and off.

   I installed a switch to control the lights in the room.

2. 2
   verb

   To change from one thing to another.

   We switched to a different brand of coffee.

3. 3
   noun

   The act of changing one thing for another.

   The candidate's switch on the issue cost them the election.

4. 4
   verb

   To exchange one thing or position for another.

   I switched places with the next person in line.

Perhaps from Middle Dutch swijch (“twig”), first attested in c. 1592. The mechanical device for altering the direction of something sense is first attested in c. 1797, pertaining to pivoted rails on minecart railways, which were once wooden.

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