swing

Meanings

Verb

  • To rotate about an off-centre fixed point.
  • To dance.
  • To ride on a swing.
  • To participate in the swinging lifestyle; to participate in wife-swapping.
  • To hang from the gallows; to be punished by hanging, swing for something or someone; (often hyperbolic) to be severely punished.
  • to move sideways in its trajectory.
  • To fluctuate or change.
  • To move (an object) backward and forward; to wave.
  • To change (a numerical result); especially to change the outcome of an election.
  • To make (something) work; especially to afford (something) financially.
  • To play notes that are in pairs by making the first of the pair slightly longer than written (augmentation) and the second shorter, resulting in a bouncy, uneven rhythm.
  • to make the ball move sideways in its trajectory.
  • To move one's arm in a punching motion.
  • In dancing, to turn around in a small circle with one's partner, holding hands or arms.
  • To admit or turn something for the purpose of shaping it; said of a lathe.
  • To put (a door, gate, etc.) on hinges so that it can swing or turn.
  • To turn round by action of wind or tide when at anchor.

Noun

  • The manner in which something is swung.
  • The sweep or compass of a swinging body.
  • A line, cord, or other thing suspended and hanging loose, upon which anything may swing.
  • A hanging seat in a children's playground, for acrobats in a circus, or on a porch for relaxing.
  • A dance style.
  • The genre of music associated with this dance style.
  • The amount of change towards or away from something.
  • Sideways movement of the ball as it flies through the air.
  • Capacity of a turning lathe, as determined by the diameter of the largest object that can be turned in it.
  • In a musical theater production, a performer who understudies several roles.
  • A basic dance step in which a pair link hands and turn round together in a circle.
  • Free course; unrestrained liberty.
  • Influence or power of anything put in motion.
  • A type of hook with the arm more extended.

Origin

  • From Middle English swyngen, from Old English swingan, from Proto-Germanic *swinganÄ… (compare Low German swingen, German schwingen, Dutch zwingen, Swedish svinga), from Proto-Indo-European *sweng- (compare Scottish Gaelic seang ("thin")). Related to swink.

Modern English dictionary

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