swig
Americannoun
verb (used with or without object)
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
swigsimple
-
swigssimple
-
have swiggedperfect
-
has swiggedperfect
-
am swiggingprogressive
-
are swiggingprogressive
-
is swiggingprogressive
-
have been swiggingperfect progressive
-
has been swiggingperfect progressive
Past
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swiggedsimple
-
had swiggedperfect
-
was swiggingprogressive
-
were swiggingprogressive
-
had been swiggingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of swig
First recorded in 1540–50; origin uncertain
Explanation
A swig is a big, fast gulp, like the swig you take from your water bottle after hiking up a hill on a hot summer day. If your dainty friend is delicately sipping her iced tea while you swig yours, you'll definitely be finished first. To swig is to take a big, healthy slurp of a drink. Originally this informal word was associated with alcoholic beverages, but today you can use it for anything you're drinking with gusto. Experts aren't sure where swig comes from, but some guess it's connected to the Old English swelgan, "to swallow."
Vocabulary lists containing swig
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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.
See Examples For:
Some of Epicore Biosystems' devices vibrate gently when they calculate that it is time for you to take a swig of fluid, to avoid becoming dehydrated.
From BBC ● Jun. 22, 2026
Years later, at the parade celebrating her team’s victory in the 2019 World Cup, Ms. Rapinoe took a big swig of Champagne, threw her arms wide and proclaimed, “I deserve this!”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 4, 2026
Post Malone took a swig from a red plastic cup and wiped his mouth on the sleeve of his plaid-print Western shirt.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 28, 2024
On cue, the camera cut to Rhea Perlman passing her silver flagon to Lisa Ann Walter, who took a swig.
From Salon ● Feb. 25, 2024
He washed them down with a swig of water.
From "Holes" by Louis Sachar
Kilgore leads his cavalry into air battle to the strains of Wagner, taking out combatants in between swigs of coffee.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 17, 2026
But every time someone swigs the raw milk, they’re taking that chance on everyone’s behalf—it’s like buying a lottery ticket for which the prize is a disaster, for everyone.
From Slate ● Dec. 4, 2024
De la Garza acquiesced and the pair shared a quick toast before taking their respective swigs.
From Salon ● Aug. 5, 2024
He lounges in a spartan room in a white tunic, taking swigs from a water bottle as he tells his story on a video call.
From Science Magazine ● Feb. 15, 2023
Ethan swigs down a big gulp of milk and brings the bottle down like a gavel.
From "The Adoration of Jenna Fox" by Mary E. Pearson
The lemon squash, pilfered off the courts at the end of the day and swigged undiluted on the return coach trip, never even made it that far.
From BBC ● Jun. 28, 2023
Hader swigged kombucha, looking maximally frowzy; walking through the set, he’d muttered, “Dishevelled weirdo coming through.”
From The New Yorker ● Mar. 11, 2019
On the third day of training camp, Griffin ran off the field, swigged from a water bottle and sank down on his right knee next to his wife on Practice Field 1.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 1, 2018
Istvan swigged at intervals from a magnum-size vessel of greenish energy drink he picked up on our last Walmart stop.
From New York Times ● Feb. 9, 2017
I wonder whether I actually took DayQuil when I was in the bathroom at home, or whether I accidentally swigged half of Hunter Marsh’s Alopeesh-Sure.
From "Landscape with Invisible Hand" by M.T. Anderson
Noah was lying on the soft carpet, propped up on a big cushion, watching cartoons on TV and swigging milk from his bottle.
From BBC ● Mar. 15, 2024
We jumped out of bed and started answering emails and phone calls and swigging coffee, while trying not to wake up our two kids.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2023
The playoffs had arrived, though, and so here came Brady, swigging from an oversized water bottle, designer bag slung around his shoulder, just the right amount of gel holding every hair in place.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 16, 2022
Also, rote regurgitation of the day’s memes: for instance, a battery-acid genre scene of skateboarders drinking cranberry juice, in tribute to a briefly viral TikTok starring an Idahoan swigging Ocean Spray.
From New York Times ● Mar. 12, 2021
He pushed his undrunk tea back at Percy and waited for Ludo to rise; Bagman struggled to his feet, swigging down the last of his tea, the gold in his pockets chinking merrily.
From "Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire" by J. K. Rowling
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.
