noun
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a person who uses a swab
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a device designed for swabbing
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slang an uncouth fellow
Etymology
Origin of swabber
1585–95; < Dutch zwabber; compare Middle Low German swabben to splash in water or filth
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
As the days passed, the first colleague through the line each morning would text a scouting report to the rest of us about the aggressiveness of the swabber.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 18, 2022
The swabber working in the mobile Covid testing van parked at Conference House Park, Jesse Henry, said he was not vaccinated.
From New York Times • Jul. 23, 2021
Maybe five seconds per nostril with a six-inch swabber that reaches the sinus cavity where COVID-19 likes to live.
From Seattle Times • Aug. 7, 2020
V. ii.The master, the swabber, the boatswain, and I, Tmp.
From The Facts About Shakespeare by Nielson, William Allan
For the duty even of a swabber, he does not consider himself too high, but washes the deck most delicately clean.
From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 61, No. 377, March 1847 by Various
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
