swim

[swim]

verb (used without object), swam, swum, swim·ming.

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.

verb (used with object), swam, swum, swim·ming.

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.

noun

an act, instance, or period of swimming.

a motion as of swimming; a smooth, gliding movement.

Idioms

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

before 900; Middle English swimmen, Old English swimman; cognate with Dutch zwemmen, German schwimmen, Old Norse svimma

Related formsswim·ma·ble, adjectiveswim·mer, nounnon·swim·mer, nounout·swim, verb, out·swam, out·swum, out·swim·ming.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for swimmer

Contemporary Examples of swimmer

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 Design
The 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.
Building Brand Lochte
Rebecca Dana
September 11, 2012
South African swimmer and gold medalist Cameron van der Burgh thinks it is.
7 Unsolved Olympic Mysteries: Pot Brownie, Bottle Thrower & More
Nina Strochlic
August 13, 2012
Also present was swim-fan Prince Albert of Monaco, but he was without his wife, Olympic swimmer Charlene Wittstock.
Kate Lets Hair Down At Synchro
Tom Sykes
August 9, 2012
The Olympic swimmer has reportedly received more than one offer to design a fashion line.
Ryan Lochte: Fashion Designer? Olympian Has Offers To Design Line
Isabel Wilkinson
August 8, 2012

Historical Examples of swimmer

But they saw that the sea was for the swimmer, and the sand for the feet of the runner.
De Profundis
Oscar Wilde
Do you fancy, child, that the swimmer will always go about with the corks that have saved his life?'
Lord Kilgobbin
Charles Lever
It's not so easy for a swimmer like me to commit suicide by drowning.
The Secret Sharer
Joseph Conrad
Suddenly they are called upon to care for the work of the swimmer.
Boy Scouts Handbook
Boy Scouts of America
He was the best runner and swimmer in the parish, and the idol of the village lads.
The Trail of '98
Robert W. Service

British Dictionary definitions for swimmer

swim

verb swims, swimming, swam or swum

(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

noun

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

Derived Formsswimmable, adjectiveswimmer, nounswimming, noun, adjective

Word Origin for swim

Old English swimman; related to Old Norse svima, German schwimmen, Gothic swumsl pond, Norwegian svamla to paddle

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for swimmer

swim

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

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