swim
Pronunciation: /swɪm/
The English word “swim” has 18 meanings listed here.
verb
- To move through the water, without touching the bottom; to propel oneself in water by natural means.
- To become immersed in, or as if in, or flooded with, or as if with, a liquid.
- To move around freely because of excess space.
- 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.
- To cause to swim.
- To float.
- To be overflowed or drenched.
- To immerse in water to make the lighter parts float.
- To test (a suspected witch) by throwing into a river; those who floated rather than sinking were deemed to be witches.
- To glide along with a waving motion.
- To have a great quantity of something.
- To be dizzy or vertiginous; have a giddy sensation; to have, or appear to have, a whirling motion.
noun
- An act or instance of swimming.
- The sound, or air bladder, of a fish.
- A part of a stream much frequented by fish.
- 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.
- The flow of events; being in the swim of things.
- A dizziness; swoon.
Etymology
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 swim”), from Proto-Indo-European *swem(bʰ)- (“to be unsteady, move, swim”). Cognates Cognate with North Frisian sweem, swome, swume, swumi, swumme, swääm (“to swim”), Saterland Frisian…
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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.