Wiktionary

swish

See also: Swish

English

edit

Etymology

edit

From noun, imitative of the sound [1]

Pronunciation

edit

Adjective

edit

swish (comparative swisher or more swish, superlative swishest or most swish)

  1. (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.
  2. Attractive, stylish
  3. Effeminate.

Derived terms

edit

Translations

edit

Noun

edit

swish (countable and uncountable, plural swishes)

  1. A short rustling, hissing or whistling sound, often made by friction.
  2. 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.
  3. A sound of liquid flowing inside a container.
    • [1898], J[ohn] 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.
  4. A twig or bundle of twigs, used for administering beatings; a switch
  5. (basketball) A successful basketball shot that does not touch the rim or backboard.
  6. (cricket) A rapid or careless attacking stroke by the batter.
  7. (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 […]
  8. (slang, uncountable) Effeminacy, effeminate or homosexual demeanor.
    He got a little swish downriver.
  9. (uncountable, Canada, prison slang) An improvised alcoholic drink made by fermenting whatever ingredients are available.
edit

Translations

edit

Verb

edit

swish (third-person singular simple present swishes, present participle swishing, simple past and past participle swished)

  1. 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.
  2. (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.
  3. (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.
  4. (basketball) To make a successful basketball shot that does not touch the rim or backboard.
  5. (gay slang) To mince or otherwise to behave in an effeminate manner.
    I shall not swish; I'll merely act limp-wristed.
  6. (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

edit

Translations

edit

Interjection

edit

swish

  1. 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

edit
  1. ^ Etymonline
Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=swish&oldid=82603955"
  NODES
eth 2
News 1
see 1