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Swing   /swɪŋ/   Listen
noun
Swing  n.  
1.
The act of swinging; a waving, oscillating, or vibratory motion of a hanging or pivoted object; oscillation; as, the swing of a pendulum.
2.
Swaying motion from one side or direction to the other; as, some men walk with a swing.
3.
A line, cord, or other thing suspended and hanging loose, upon which anything may swing; especially, an apparatus for recreation by swinging, commonly consisting of a rope, the two ends of which are attached overhead, as to the bough of a tree, a seat being placed in the loop at the bottom; also, any contrivance by which a similar motion is produced for amusement or exercise.
4.
Influence of power of a body put in swaying motion. "The ram that batters down the wall, For the great swing and rudeness of his poise, They place before his hand that made the engine."
5.
Capacity of a turning lathe, as determined by the diameter of the largest object that can be turned in it.
6.
Free course; unrestrained liberty or license; tendency. "Take thy swing." "To prevent anything which may prove an obstacle to the full swing of his genius."
Full swing. See under Full.
Swing beam (Railway Mach.), a crosspiece sustaining the car body, and so suspended from the framing of a truck that it may have an independent lateral motion.
Swing bridge, a form of drawbridge which swings horizontally, as on a vertical pivot.
Swing plow, or Swing plough.
(a)
A plow without a fore wheel under the beam.
(b)
A reversible or sidehill plow.
Swing wheel.
(a)
The scape-wheel in a clock, which drives the pendulum.
(b)
The balance of a watch.


verb
Swing  v. t.  (past & past part. swung, archaic swang; pres. part. swinging)  
1.
To cause to swing or vibrate; to cause to move backward and forward, or from one side to the other. "He swings his tail, and swiftly turns his round." "They get on ropes, as you must have seen the children, and are swung by their men visitants."
2.
To give a circular movement to; to whirl; to brandish; as, to swing a sword; to swing a club; hence, colloquially, to manage; as, to swing a business.
3.
(Mach.) To admit or turn (anything) for the purpose of shaping it; said of a lathe; as, the lathe can swing a pulley of 12 inches diameter.
To swing a door, To swing a gate, etc. (Carp.), to put it on hinges so that it can swing or turn.


Swing  v. i.  (past & past part. swung, archaic swang; pres. part. swinging)  
1.
To move to and fro, as a body suspended in the air; to wave; to vibrate; to oscillate. "I tried if a pendulum would swing faster, or continue swinging longer, in case of exsuction of the air."
2.
To sway or move from one side or direction to another; as, the door swung open.
3.
To use a swing; as, a boy swings for exercise or pleasure. See Swing, n., 3.
4.
(Naut.) To turn round by action of wind or tide when at anchor; as, a ship swings with the tide.
5.
To be hanged. (Colloq.)
To swing round the circle, to make a complete circuit. (Colloq.) "He had swung round the circle of theories and systems in which his age abounded, without finding relief."





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Swing" Quotes from Famous Books



... as the pit, black and empty; there was not a glimmer of light, though the moon was surely up. He had seen her four hours before, a red sickle, swing slowly out from Thabor. Across the plain, as he looked from the parapet, there was nothing. For a few yards there lay across the broken ground a single crooked lance of light from a half-closed shutter; and beneath that, nothing. To the north again, nothing; to the west a ...
— Lord of the World • Robert Hugh Benson
... him two Chile dollars, and that he was here, bland, friendly, but insistent, to collect the debt in person. That Simele would not be back for hours in no way daunted him, and he seemed prepared to swing his brown legs and show his white teeth ...
— Stories of Authors, British and American • Edwin Watts Chubb
... Garston, sometimes north towards the sea. They observe, in fact, that the water has two periodic motions—one up and down, the other to and fro—a vertical and a horizontal motion. They may further observe, if they take the trouble, that a complete swing of the water, up and down, or to and fro, takes place about every twelve and a half hours; moreover, that soon after high and low water there is no current—the water is stationary, whereas about half-way between high and low it is rushing ...
— Pioneers of Science • Oliver Lodge
... Moore did languish and die." This aforesaid William Moore was gunner in the Adventure galley, and was mutinous, and Kidd, as captain, was perfectly justified in knocking him down and even of killing him; but as the court meant Kidd to "swing," this was quite good enough for finding him guilty. The unfortunate prisoner was executed at Wapping on May 23rd, 1701, and his body afterwards ...
— The Pirates' Who's Who - Giving Particulars Of The Lives and Deaths Of The Pirates And Buccaneers • Philip Gosse
... Paisley) endorses The sentence of violent death, Though he leaves him alternative courses For yielding his ultimate breath; He allows him an optional charter— To swing by his neck from a tree, Or to perish ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 158, February 4, 1920 • Various


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