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swish. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
swish, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
swish in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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English
Etymology
From noun, imitative of the sound [1]
Pronunciation
Adjective
swish (comparative swisher or more swish, superlative swishest or most swish)
- (British, colloquial) sophisticated; fashionable; smooth.
This restaurant looks very swish — it even has linen tablecloths.
2020 June 3, Howard Johnston, “Regional News: Cambridge”, in Rail, page 23:All the shabby railway buildings in front of the station concourse have either been removed or transformed into a shopping complex and swish homes.
- Attractive, stylish
2004, “Ladyflash”, in Thunder, Lightning, Strike, performed by The Go! Team:When the boys go swish, they always score
- Effeminate.
Derived terms
Translations
sophisticated; fashionable; smooth
Noun
swish (countable and uncountable, plural swishes)
- A short rustling, hissing or whistling sound, often made by friction.
- A hissing, sweeping movement through the air, as of an animal's tail.
2011, A. C. August, The Highway Cross, page 116:As she trotted down the white path, each swish of her tail sent petals dancing through the air, falling where the bride would walk.
- A sound of liquid flowing inside a container.
, J Meade Falkner, Moonfleet, London; Toronto, Ont.: Jonathan Cape, published 1934, →OCLC:There were four or five men in the vault already, and I could hear more coming down the passage, and guessed from their heavy footsteps that they were carrying burdens. There was a sound, too, of dumping kegs down on the ground, with a swish of liquor inside them, and then the noise of casks being moved.
- A twig or bundle of twigs, used for administering beatings; a switch
- (basketball) A successful basketball shot that does not touch the rim or backboard.
- (cricket) A rapid or careless attacking stroke by the batter.
- (slang) An effeminate male homosexual.
1992, Leigh W. Rutledge, The gay decades: from Stonewall to the present:"Fairies, nances, swishes, fags, lezzes — call 'em what you please — should of course be permitted to earn honest livings […]
- (slang, uncountable) Effeminacy, effeminate or homosexual demeanor.
He got a little swish downriver.
- (uncountable, Canada, prison slang) An improvised alcoholic drink made by fermenting whatever ingredients are available.
Translations
successful basketball shot that does not touch the rim or backboard
Verb
swish (third-person singular simple present swishes, present participle swishing, simple past and past participle swished)
- To make a rustling sound while moving.
The cane swishes.
1922, A. M. Chisholm, A Thousand a Plate:In the stern of the low-laden canoe his paddle swished steadily and powerfully, with thrust of straight, stiff upper arm backed by a twisting swing of the body from the waist, and with every stroke the little craft leaped as if a giant hand had shoved her forward.
- (transitive) To flourish with a swishing sound.
to swish a cane back and forth
1829 [1799], Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Robert Southey, “The Devil's Thoughts”, in The Poetical Works of Coleridge, Shelley, and Keats, Paris: A. and W. Galignani, page 239:And backward and forward he swish'd his long tail / As a gentleman swishes his cane.
- (transitive, slang, dated) To flog; to lash.
1906, Oscar Wilde, The Canterville Ghost:After Virginia came the twins, who were usually called "the Star and Stripes", as they were always getting swished.
c. 1842, William Makepeace Thackeray, Character Sketches:Doctor Wordsworth and assistants would swish that error out of him in a way that need not here be mentioned.
- (basketball) To make a successful basketball shot that does not touch the rim or backboard.
- (gay slang) To mince or otherwise to behave in an effeminate manner.
I shall not swish; I'll merely act limp-wristed.
- (transitive) To cause a liquid to move around in a container, or in one's mouth.
Swish the mouthwash around the mouth and between the teeth for one minute.
Derived terms
Translations
to make a rustling sound while moving
to flourish with a swishing sound
basketball: to shoot the ball in without touching the rim or backboard
to behave in an effeminate manner
Interjection
swish
- A hissing or whistling sound of something travelling quickly through the air.
1898, H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann, page 84:"Just like parade it had been a minute before then stumble, bang, swish! Wiped out!" he said.
References