swig
Americannoun
-
swigs
plural
verb (used with or without object)
-
swigs,
present (3rd person singular)
-
swigged,
past participle, past
-
swigging
present participle
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
-
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 takes another swig of sweet tea to swallow the little ball that’s risen in his throat.
From "Clean Getaway" by Nic Stone
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
This performance combines imitation and evocation; Dirty’s every gesture—every swigged drink and slinky entrance—is dancerly, in a series that plays like a great piece of work about the quest to achieve freedom of movement.
From The New Yorker ● Nov. 1, 2019
Christine Blasey Ford had swigged cola during her turn earlier that day.
From New York Times ● Sep. 29, 2018
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
I swigged back the liquid in one go like you do milk of magnesia.
From "Black Swan Green" by David Mitchell
Flanking the dance floor are guests grazing on free cheese pizza from Pizzanista and swigging from slim cans of Roxie, a zero-proof mocktail.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2023
“It’s just annoying,” she said, swigging water from a Mason jar.
From New York Times ● May 9, 2022
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
No viral video embodies 2020 more than the TikTok clip of Nathan Apodaca swigging Ocean Spray Cran-Raspberry juice while longboarding as Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams" plays in the background.
From Salon ● Nov. 30, 2020
During one of these interruptions, he saw them standing on the concrete apron out front smoking and talking and swigging bottles of Coca-Cola.
From "The Best of Enemies" by Osha Gray Davidson
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.
