Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A splash of water or other liquid hitting a solid surface.
- noun The sound of such a splash.
- noun A narrow channel through which tides flow.
- noun A bar over which waves wash freely.
- noun Swagger or bluster.
- noun A swaggering or blustering person.
- intransitive verb To strike, move, or wash with a splashing sound.
- intransitive verb To swagger.
- intransitive verb To splash (a liquid).
- intransitive verb To splash a liquid against.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To spill or splash water about; dash or flow noisily; splash.
- To fall violently or noisily.
- To bluster; make a great noise; make a show of valor; vapor; brag.
- To dash about violently; strike violently.
- Soft; watery, like fruit too ripe. Also
swashy . - noun A dashing or splashing of water; splash.
- noun Liquid filth; wash; hogwash.
- noun A narrow sound or channel of water lying within a sand-bank, or between that and the shore. Also swash channel, swashway.
- noun A low coast-belt or tract of country covered with mangroves, and liable to be submerged or inundated at certain seasons.
- noun A blustering noise; a vaporing.
- noun A roaring blade; a swaggerer; a swasher.
- See
swash-letters . - noun In architecture, an oval figure formed by moldings which are placed obliquely to the axis of the work.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Arch.) An oval figure, whose moldings are oblique to the axis of the work.
- noun (Mach.) a revolving circular plate, set obliquely on its shaft, and acting as a cam to give a reciprocating motion to a rod in a direction parallel to the shaft.
- intransitive verb To dash or flow noisily, as water; to splash.
- intransitive verb obsolete To fall violently or noisily.
- intransitive verb To bluster; to make a great noise; to vapor or brag.
- adjective Prov. Eng. Soft, like fruit too ripe; swashy.
- noun Impulse of water flowing with violence; a dashing or splashing of water.
- noun A narrow sound or channel of water lying within a sand bank, or between a sand bank and the shore, or a bar over which the sea washes.
- noun obsolete Liquid filth; wash; hog mash.
- noun obsolete A blustering noise; a swaggering behavior.
- noun A swaggering fellow; a swasher.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun The water that washes up on
shore after an incomingwave has broken - noun typography a long, protruding ornamental line or pen stroke found in some
typefaces and styles ofcalligraphy . - noun A narrow
sound orchannel of water lying within a sand bank, or between a sand bank and the shore, or abar over which the sea washes. - noun obsolete Liquid
filth ; wash; hog mash. - noun obsolete A
blustering noise. - noun obsolete
swaggering behaviour. - noun obsolete A
swaggering fellow; aswasher . - verb intransitive To swagger
- verb intransitive To splash
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb make violent, noisy movements
- noun the movement or sound of water
- verb act in an arrogant, overly self-assured, or conceited manner
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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The water that rushes up the beach is called the swash while any water returning down to the sea is the backwash.
Recently Uploaded Slideshows kparkins 2010
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A pathway of earth thirty feet in width could not endure the winds and waves of a navigable lake, or the wear and "swash" of a canal twelve feet deep on either side; and the fact that Cortéz navigated the ditches in the rainy season establishes the insignificant size of his famous brigantines.
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The feeble "swash" that answered the shake was not reassuring.
Thankful's Inheritance Joseph Crosby Lincoln 1907
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The hunter listens, and when the moose lifts his head and the rills of water run from it, and he hears him "swash" the lily roots about to get off the mud, it is his time to start.
Birds and Bees, Sharp Eyes and Other Papers John Burroughs 1879
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Macarthy – switching from truculence to triumphalism as fast as the cockiest small boy; buckling a fine swash for the children in the audience; offering adult eyes a suggestion of pathos, of knowing that he is trapped in a dream yet still bewitched by its promise of "fun" – certainly has something to crow about.
Peter Pan – review 2011
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The bow plunged down, just missing me and sending a swash of water clear over my head.
Chapter 1 2010
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That removed a huge swash of what I'd normally use as the sound design palette for that place.
Movies: Ann Hornaday on use of sound effects in 'Secretariat' and other films Ann Hornaday 2010
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It was a dreary enough day, no sun, with occasional splatters of rain and a persistent crash of seas over the weather rail and swash of water across the deck.
CHAPTER XI 2010
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Delvin fumbled at the terminal, and a swash of cold water splashed over us, flooding the ground.
365 tomorrows » 2009 » February : A New Free Flash Fiction SciFi Story Every Day 2009
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In the light sweet crude swash of diesel, stoplights streaking straightaway, from neon.
Float Like An Asterisk, Sting Like A Mote Dennis Mahagin 2011
yarb commented on the word swash
Crones crawl through hurled swash -
Gandhis, Oxfam ads.
- Peter Reading, Travelogue, from Nothing for Anyone, 1977
June 26, 2008
yarb commented on the word swash
"Blast the boat! let it go!" cried Stubb at this instant, as a swashing sea heaved up under his own little craft so that its gunwale violently jammed his hand, as he was passing a lashing.
- Melville, Moby-Dick, ch. 119
July 31, 2008
maryw commented on the word swash
Homer Hickam, Carrying Albert Home (New York: HarperCollins, 2015), p. 219 (setting: South Carolina coast)
June 29, 2020