swim
- to move in water by movements of the limbs, fins, tail, etc.
- to float on the surface of water or some other liquid.
- to move, rest, or be suspended in air as if swimming in water.
- to move, glide, or go smoothly over a surface.
- to be immersed or steeped in or overflowing or flooded with a liquid: eyes swimming with tears.
- to be dizzy or giddy; seem to whirl: My head began to swim.
- to move along in or cross (a body of water) by swimming: to swim a lake.
- to perform (a particular stroke) in swimming: to swim a sidestroke.
- to cause to swim or float, as on a stream.
- to furnish with sufficient water to swim or float.
- an act, instance, or period of swimming.
- a motion as of swimming; a smooth, gliding movement.
- in the swim, alert to or actively engaged in events; in the thick of things: Despite her age, she is still in the swim.
Origin of swim
Examples from the Web for swimmer
Contemporary Examples
Ryan Lochte Dabbles in Fashion Design: The swimmer and 11-time Olympic medalist's fashion design career is gaining steam.
Kristen Stewart Named Face of Chanel; Ryan Lochte Dabbles in Fashion DesignThe Fashion Beast Team
December 11, 2013
You may not be able to sleep with Ryan Lochte, the Olympic swimmer and ubiquitous grinning presence at New York Fashion Week.
South African swimmer and gold medalist Cameron van der Burgh thinks it is.
Also present was swim-fan Prince Albert of Monaco, but he was without his wife, Olympic swimmer Charlene Wittstock.
The Olympic swimmer has reportedly received more than one offer to design a fashion line.
Historical Examples
But they saw that the sea was for the swimmer, and the sand for the feet of the runner.
De ProfundisOscar Wilde
Do you fancy, child, that the swimmer will always go about with the corks that have saved his life?'
Lord KilgobbinCharles Lever
It's not so easy for a swimmer like me to commit suicide by drowning.
The Secret SharerJoseph Conrad
Suddenly they are called upon to care for the work of the swimmer.
Boy Scouts HandbookBoy Scouts of America
He was the best runner and swimmer in the parish, and the idol of the village lads.
The Trail of '98Robert W. Service
swim
- (intr) to move along in water, etc, by means of movements of the body or parts of the body, esp the arms and legs, or (in the case of fish) tail and fins
- (tr) to cover (a distance or stretch of water) in this way
- (tr) to compete in (a race) in this way
- (intr) to be supported by and on a liquid; float
- (tr) to use (a particular stroke) in swimming
- (intr) to move smoothly, usually through air or over a surface
- (intr) to reel or seem to reelmy head swam; the room swam around me
- (intr; often foll by in or with) to be covered or flooded with water or other liquid
- (intr often foll by in) to be liberally supplied (with)he's swimming in money
- (tr) to cause to float or swim
- (tr) to provide (something) with water deep enough to float in
- swim against the tide or swim against the stream to resist prevailing opinion
- swim with the tide or swim with the stream to conform to prevailing opinion
- the act, an instance, or period of swimming
- any graceful gliding motion
- a condition of dizziness; swoon
- a pool in a river good for fishing
- in the swim informal fashionable or active in social or political activities
Word Origin
Word Origin and History for swimmer
swim
v.
Old English swimman "to move in or on the water, float" (class III strong verb; past tense swamm, past participle swummen), from Proto-Germanic *swemjanan (cf. Old Saxon and Old High German swimman, Old Norse svimma, Dutch zwemmen, German schwimmen), from PIE root *swem- "to be in motion."
The root is sometimes said to be restricted to Germanic, but possible cognates are Welsh chwyf "motion," Old Irish do-sennaim "I hunt," Lithuanian sundyti "to chase." For the usual Indo-European word, see natatorium. Sense of "reel or move unsteadily" first recorded 1670s; of the head or brain, from 1702. Figurative phrase sink or swim is attested from mid-15c., often with reference to ordeals of suspected witches.
swim
n.
1540s, "the clear part of any liquid" (above the sediment), from swim (v.). Meaning "part of a river or stream frequented by fish" (and hence fishermen) is from 1828, and is probably the source of the figurative meaning "the current of the latest affairs or events" (1869).
Idioms and Phrases with swimmer
swim
In addition to the idioms beginning with swim
- swim against the current
- swim with the tide
also see:
- in the swim
- sink or swim