swipes
Americannoun
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poor, watery, or spoiled beer.
-
malt liquor in general, especially beer and small beer.
plural noun
Etymology
Origin of swipes
1780–90; noun plural use of swipe to drink down at one gulp, variant of sweep 1
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.
Reed was nothing if not consistent in his swipes at acclaimed actors and directors alike — the newer the acclaim, the more likely the criticism.
From Los Angeles Times • May 12, 2026
The selloff began after Anthropic announced that its Claude Code tool could automate the modernization of COBOL, a decades-old programming language that underpins most ATM transactions and in-person credit card swipes.
From Barron's • Feb. 24, 2026
Many companies initially relied solely on badge swipes to track attendance, and it was relatively easy to game the system.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 30, 2025
Gen X endured the dot-com bust, the Great Recession and the pandemic, which all took swipes at their meager nest eggs.
From MarketWatch • Dec. 15, 2025
His hands are dirty, and he swipes away long cords of black hair spilling in front of his eyes with his forearm.
From "The Adoration of Jenna Fox" by Mary E. Pearson
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.
