SWAB • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Swab

Add this Dictionary
to your website!
See more options...

/swɑb/ Listen

noun

Swab n.

A kind of mop for cleaning floors, the desks of vessels, etc., esp. one made of rope-yarns or threads.

A bit of sponge, cloth, or the like, fastened to a handle, for cleansing the mouth of a sick person, applying medicaments to deep-seated parts, etc.

(Naut.) An epaulet. (Sailor's Slang)

A cod, or pod, as of beans or pease. (Obs.)

A sponge, or other suitable substance, attached to a long rod or handle, for cleaning the bore of a firearm.

verb

Swab v. t. (past & past part. swabbed; pres. part. swabbing) (Spelt also swob) To clean with a mop or swab; to wipe when very wet, as after washing; as, to swab the desk of a ship.

See images of 'Swab'

Etymology of 'Swab'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

Share |

Add this dictionary
to your browser search bar

"Swab" Quotes from Famous Books

... acid. The results were favorable from the very start. The warts rapidly shrunk away and finally disappeared entirely. The acid is applied to the crown of the wart with a small swab or similar instrument, and only in sufficient quantities to wet the crown surface of the wart. It should be applied about three times a week until the wart is well reduced. Don't use too much acid, and don't keep up the application too long - ...

— One Thousand Questions in California Agriculture Answered • E.J. Wickson

... going to break your heart for a dirty swab like that," he said, with more of insistence than interrogation in his voice. "Look you here, Columbine! You're too honest to care for a beast like that. Why—though I pulled him out of the quicksand and saved ...

— The Tidal Wave and Other Stories • Ethel May Dell

... more than let the breath go in and out of his body, and so each one of us knew that something moved without, in the big cabin. In a little, something touched upon our door, and it was, as I have mentioned earlier, as though a great swab rubbed and scrubbed at the woodwork. At this, the men nearest unto the door came backwards in a surge, being put in sudden fear by reason of the Thing being so near; but the bo'sun held up a hand, bidding them, ...

— The Boats of the "Glen Carrig" • William Hope Hodgson

... had a chance to wring the long knife out of the murderous stranger's hand, and I spoke out to the smooth-faced fellow. "You'll do, my boy, even if you don't know a yard from a main-brace bumpkin. Pass a line around his legs and stuff a swab into his mouth if he don't ...

— Mr. Trunnell • T. Jenkins Hains

... that?" he roared. "Show me the blitherin' swab. Jes' show him to me, I tell you, an I'll learn him. Now you," he yelled at the top of his voice, turning again to the men he had ordered into the forecastle after Billy Byrne, "you cowardly landlubbers you, get below there quick afore I ...

— The Mucker • Edgar Rice Burroughs

More quotes...