swipe

English

Etymology

From earlier swip (with a short vowel), from Middle English swippen, swipen (“to move violently”), from Old English swipian, sweopian, swippan (“to scourge, strike, beat, lash”), from Proto-West Germanic *swippjan, *swipōn, *swipēn, from Proto-Germanic *swipōną, *swipjaną, *swipāną (“to move”), from Proto-Indo-European *sweyb- (“to bend, turn, swerve, sway, swing, sweep”). Cognate with German schwippen (“to whip”), Danish svippe (“to smack; crack a whip”), Icelandic svipa (“to whip; move swiftly”). Related to sweep, swoop.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /swaɪp/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪp

Verb

swipe (third-person singular simple present swipes, present participle swiping, simple past and past participle swiped)

1. (intransitive) To grab or bat quickly.

   The cat swiped at the shoelace.

2. (transitive) To strike with a strong blow in a sweeping motion.
3. (transitive) To scan or register by sliding (a swipecard etc.) through a reader.

   He swiped his card at the door.

4. (transitive, intransitive, computing, graphical user interface) To interact with a touch screen by drawing one's finger rapidly across it.

   Coordinate term: scroll

   Swipe left to hide the toolbar.

   • 2008, Erica Sadun, Taking Your iPhone to the Max, Apress, →ISBN, page 27:

     This is the iPhone lock screen with its default Earth wallpaper. To unlock your phone, swipe the slider from left to right.

   • 2022 August 31, Catherine Pearson, “‘A Decade of Fruitless Searching’: The Toll of Dating App Burnout”, in The New York Times‎, →ISSN:

     But really, she is just over it all: the swiping, the monotonous getting-to-know-you conversations and the self-doubt that creeps in when one of her matches fizzles.

5. (transitive, informal) To swipe right on (someone) on a dating application.
   • 2016 August 2, Lindsay Kimble, “Zac Efron Opens Up About His Dating Woes and Jokes: 'When I Signed Up for Tinder, Nobody Swiped Me!'”, in People‎:

     Zac Efron needs a date. […] But would the actor resort to apps to find a partner? Joking, he said, “Amazingly, when I signed up for Tinder, nobody swiped me! They thought it was fake … That never happened.”

   • 2023, Nathan Bryon, Tom Melia, directed by Raine Allen-Miller, Rye Lane:

     Yas (Vivian Oparah): That is your truth. And, by the way, your man swiped me on Tinder, like, a week ago. […]
     Eric (Benjamin Sarpong-Broni): Mmm, no, I didn't. I didn't swipe you. […] Or anybody. […] I didn't swipe her.

6. (transitive, informal) To steal or snatch.

   Synonyms: pinch; see also Thesaurus:steal

   Hey! Who swiped my lunch?

   • 1923 May 17, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, “(please specify the page)”, in The Inimitable Jeeves, Harmondsworth, Middlesex : Penguin Books, published 1979, →ISBN:

     “From Miss Hemmingway. Miss Hemmingway! But—but how did they come into her possession?”
     “How?” I said. “Because she jolly well stole them. Pinched them! Swiped them! […] ”

   • 1968, Thomas C. Ryan, 00:48:18 from the start, in The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter:

     Maybe I could swipe some Tintex from the five-and-dime.

7. (slang, obsolete, nautical) To drink.

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

swipe (countable and uncountable, plural swipes)

1. (countable) A quick grab, bat, or other motion with the hand or paw; a sweep.
2. (countable) A strong blow given with a sweeping motion, as with a bat or club.
3. (countable, graphical user interface) An act of interacting with a touch screen by drawing the finger rapidly across it.
   • 2020 April 18, Alyson Krueger, “Virtual Dating Is the New Normal. Will It Work?”, in The New Yorker‎:

     Some New Yorkers are moving beyond the swipe to venture into flirtatious panel discussions and speed dating sessions.

4. (countable) An act of passing a swipecard through a card reader.
   • 2020 March 13, Ronnie Koenig, “Parking So Prime, the Car Is Optional”, in The New Yorker‎:

     Owning a car in New York City is seen as a liability by many, especially when a quick Uber ride or the swipe of a MetroCard can easily get you where you need to go.

5. (countable, informal) A rough guess; an estimate or swag.

   Take a swipe at the answer, even if you're not sure.

6. (countable, informal) An attack, insult or critical remark.

   The politician took a swipe at his opponents.

   • 2019 December 20, Abbey Marshall, “Sarah Sanders apologizes after mocking Biden’s stutter”, in Politico‎:

     Biden‘s Twitter account then acknowledged the swipe, quote-tweeting Sanders shortly after the debate saying, “I’ve worked my whole life to overcome a stutter. And it’s my great honor to mentor kids who have experienced the same. It’s called empathy. Look it up.”

   • 2022 December 15, Jack Royston, “Prince Harry throws more accusations at Prince William than ever before”, in Newsweek‎:

     Harry took a swipe at the palace's response to a story published in 2020 suggesting the Sussexes were leaving the royal family because William had bullied them out.

7. (uncountable) Poor, weak beer or other inferior alcoholic beverage; rotgut.

   Synonym: swipes

   • 1984, Ronald T. Takaki, Pau Hana: Plantation Life and Labor in Hawaii, 1835-1920, →ISBN, page 134:

     Woozy with swipe was the only way I could stay down with patience for work.

   • 1990, Charles Langlas, James Ahia, The People of Kalapana, 1823-1950:

     JJ: Did a lot of people drink? KP: Down here, oh yeah, a lot of them made their own swipe, their own potato and pineapple swipe.

   • 1998, Gary Pak, Pak: A Ricepaper Airplane, →ISBN, page 73:

     Sung Wha knows it's pineapple swipe they are drinking. Hoping that they might sell him some of the stuff, he approaches them with the dollar bill out. One worker, sucking on a fat, wet stub of a cigar, waves off the offer and shakes his head: no we aren't selling the swipe, the swipe is for us to drink and enjoy.

   • 2012, James Jones, The World War II Trilogy, →ISBN:

     Only the nights—of sitting out in the moonlight drinking the horrible tasting swipe and talking, the thinking about women —remained unchanged.

Derived terms

Anagrams

• pwise, wipes