swim
Meanings
- To move through the water, without touching the bottom; to propel oneself in water by natural means.
- To become immersed in, or as if in, or flooded with, or as if with, a liquid.
- To move around freely because of excess space.
- To traverse (a specific body of water, or a specific distance) by swimming; or, to use a specific swimming stroke; or, to compete in a specific swimming event.
- To cause to swim.
- To float.
- To be overflowed or drenched.
- To immerse in water to make the lighter parts float.
- To test (a suspected witch) by throwing into a river; those who floated rather than sinking were deemed to be witches.
- To glide along with a waving motion.
- To have a great quantity of something.
- An act or instance of swimming.
- The sound, or air bladder, of a fish.
- A part of a stream much frequented by fish.
- A dance or dance move of the 1960s in which the arms are moved in imitation of various swimming strokes, such as freestyle, breaststroke, etc.
- The flow of events; being in the swim of things.
- A dizziness; swoon.
- To be dizzy or vertiginous; have a giddy sensation; to have, or appear to have, a whirling motion.
- Abbreviation of someone who isn't me, used as a way to avoid self-designation or self-incrimination, especially in online drug forums.
- Someone who isn't me; someone who isn't myself
- A surname.
Pronunciation
Word forms
Etymology
From Middle English swymmen, from Old English swimman (“to swim, float”) (class III strong verb; past tense swamm, past participle geswummen), from Proto-West Germanic *swimman, from Proto-Germanic *swimmaną (“to swim”), from Proto-Indo-European *swem(bʰ)- (“to be unsteady, move, swim”). Cognates Cognate with North Frisian sweem, swome, swume, swumi, swumme, swääm (“to swim”), Saterland Frisian and West Frisian swimme (“to swim”), Dutch zwemmen (“to swim”), German schwimmen (“to swim”), Limburgish schwämme, zwömme (“to swim”), Low German swimmen (“to swim”), Luxembourgish schwammen (“to swim”), Vilamovian švymma, śwyma, śwymma (“to swim”), Yiddish שווימען (shvimen, “to swim”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål svømme (“to swim”), Faroese svimja (“to swim”), Norn suma (“to swim”), Norwegian Nynorsk svemja, svemje, svømma, svømme, symja, symje (“to swim”), Swedish simma (“to swim”).