swim

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See also: Swim and SWIM

English

woman swimming
Video of men swimming

Etymology 1

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

Verb

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, page 87:
      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: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
      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 use 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.
    • 1697, Virgil, “The Tenth Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. , London: Jacob Tonson, , →OCLC:
      Sometimes he thought to swim the stormy main.
  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.
Usage notes
  • 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 norish the fysh swymand. (14th c., The Creation in The Towneley plays, l. 55)
    • Their young child Troiane, as swift as dolphin fish, swimmand away. (1513, Gavin Douglas, Virgil's Aeneid)
Conjugation
Conjugation of swim
infinitive (to) swim
present tense past tense
1st-person singular swim swam, swum†
2nd-person singular swam, swum†, swammest†
3rd-person singular swims swam, swum†
plural swim
subjunctive swim swam, swum†
imperative swim —
participles swimming, swimmand† swum, swum†

†Archaic or obsolete.

Derived terms
Translations

Noun

swim (plural swims)

  1. An act or instance of swimming.
    I'm going for a swim.
    She had a quick swim in the bay.
  2. The sound, or air bladder, of a fish.
  3. (UK) A part of a stream much frequented by fish.
  4. A dance or dance move of the 1960s in which the arms are moved in imitation of various swimming strokes, such as freestyle, breaststroke, etc.
  5. (figurative) The flow of events; being in the swim of things.
    • 1948 September 18, Billboard, page 104:
      With the road ahead now clear, Mann […] is plunging back into the swim of business in a hurry.
Derived terms
Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English swime, sweme, swaime (“a dizziness, swoon, trance”), from Old English swīma (“a swoon, swimming in the head”). Cognate with Swedish svimma (“to swoon, faint”) and Danish svime (“to swoon, faint”) / Danish besvime (“to swoon, faint”).

Noun

swim (plural swims)

  1. A dizziness; swoon.

Verb

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, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “The End of Doubt”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. , volume I, London: Henry Colburn, , →OCLC, 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

Abbreviation of someone who isn't me.

Noun

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

References

  • “swim”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
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