switch

[swich]

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SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR switch ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a slender, flexible shoot, rod, etc., used especially in whipping or disciplining.

an act of whipping or beating with or as with such an object; a stroke, lash, or whisking movement.

a slender growing shoot, as of a plant.

a hairpiece consisting of a bunch or tress of long hair or some substitute, fastened together at one end and worn by women to supplement their own hair.

Electricity. a device for turning on or off or directing an electric current or for making or breaking a circuit.

Railroads. a track structure for diverting moving trains or rolling stock from one track to another, commonly consisting of a pair of movable rails.

a turning, shifting, or changing: a switch of votes to another candidate.

Bridge. a change to a suit other than the one played or bid previously.

Basketball. a maneuver in which two teammates on defense shift assignments so that each guards the opponent usually guarded by the other.

a tuft of hair at the end of the tail of some animals, as of the cow or lion.

verb (used with object)

to whip or beat with a switch or the like; lash: He switched the boy with a cane.

to move, swing, or whisk (a cane, a fishing line, etc.) with a swift, lashing stroke.

to shift or exchange: The two girls switched their lunch boxes.

to turn, shift, or divert: to switch conversation from a painful subject.

Electricity. to connect, disconnect, or redirect (an electric circuit or the device it serves) by operating a switch (often followed by off or on): I switched on a light.

Railroads.

to move or transfer (a train, car, etc.) from one set of tracks to another.
to drop or add (cars) or to make up (a train).

Movies, Television. to shift rapidly from one camera to another in order to change camera angles or shots.

verb (used without object)

to strike with or as with a switch.

to change direction or course; turn, shift, or change.

to exchange or replace something with another: He used to smoke this brand of cigarettes, but he switched.

to move or sway back and forth, as a cat's tail.

to be shifted, turned, etc., by means of a switch.

Basketball. to execute a switch.

Bridge. to lead a card of a suit different from the suit just led by oneself or one's partner.

Idioms

asleep at the switch, Informal. failing to perform one's duty, missing an opportunity, etc., because of negligence or inattention: He lost the contract because he was asleep at the switch.

Origin of switch

1585–95; earlier swits, switz slender riding whip, flexible stick; compare Low German (Hanoverian) schwutsche long, thin stick

Related formsswitch·a·ble, adjectiveswitch·er, nounswitch·like, adjectiveun·switch·a·ble, adjectiveun·switched, adjective

Synonyms for switch

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR switch ON THESAURUS.COM

7. change, shift, alternation, substitution.

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

Related Words for switched

convert, veer, shift, replace, turn, swap, divert, interchange, deviate, deflect, trade, rearrange, sidetrack, turnabout, substitute, shunt

Examples from the Web for switched

Contemporary Examples of switched

Passengers were asked to make sure their phones and other devices were charged so that they could be switched on for inspection.
A Gift to the Jihadis: The Unseen Airport Security Threat
Clive Irving
December 27, 2014
Mixing meat and dairy is a kosher rule-breaker, so they switched the cheese for potatoes.
I Ate Potato Pancakes Til I Plotzed
Emily Shire
December 17, 2014
Meet the outgoing Michigan Republican congressman who switched his vote and kept the government funded Thursday.
Quirky Reindeer Farmer Keeps Government Open for Christmas
Ben Jacobs
December 11, 2014
I was writing Lorrie Moore knock-off short stories before I switched to nonfiction.
Meghan Daum On Tackling The Unspeakable Parts Of Life
David Yaffe
December 6, 2014
The RSD Facebook page, and all the local RSD groups, known as “inner circle,” have been switched to private.
The Secret World of Pickup Artist Julien Blanc
Brandy Zadrozny
December 1, 2014

Historical Examples of switched

She said she wouldn't live in this town, not if she was switched.
Tiverton Tales
Alice Brown
Presently the searchlight was switched off, leaving the deck in utter darkness.
The Cruise of the Dry Dock
T. S. Stribling
This did not interest me much, so I switched our talk to something that did.
The Harbor
Ernest Poole
He switched on the electric light in the hall, and opened the door.
Tom Swift and his Electric Runabout
Victor Appleton
The steps came up and up and she switched on the light in the passage.
Jan and Her Job
L. Allen Harker

British Dictionary definitions for switched

switch

noun

a mechanical, electrical, electronic, or optical device for opening or closing a circuit or for diverting energy from one part of a circuit to another

a swift and usually sudden shift or change

an exchange or swap

a flexible rod or twig, used esp for punishment

the sharp movement or blow of such an instrument

a tress of false hair used to give added length or bulk to a woman's own hairstyle

the tassel-like tip of the tail of cattle and certain other animals

any of various card games in which the suit is changed during play

US and Canadian a railway siding

US and Canadian a railway point

Australian informal See switchboard

verb

to shift, change, turn aside, or change the direction of (something)

to exchange (places); replace (something by something else)the battalions switched fronts

mainly US and Canadian to transfer (rolling stock) from one railway track to another

(tr) to cause (an electric current) to start or stop flowing or to change its path by operating a switch

to swing or cause to swing, esp back and forth

(tr) to lash or whip with or as if with a switch

Word Origin for switch

C16: perhaps from Middle Dutch swijch branch, twig

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 switched

switch

1590s, "slender riding whip," probably from a Flemish or Low German word akin to Hanoverian swutsche, a variant of Low German zwukse "long thin stick, switch," from Germanic base *swih- (cf. Old High German zwec "wooden peg," German Zweck "aim, design," originally "peg as a target," Zwick "wooden peg"), perhaps connected with PIE root *swei- "to swing, bend, to turn."

The meaning "device for changing the direction of something or making or breaking a connection" is first recorded 1797. "The peg sense suits the mech(anical) applications" [Weekley], and these senses may be a direct borrowing from those senses in Continental Germanic languages rather than a continuation of the "pliant wand" sense. The meaning "a change, a reversal, an exchange, a substitution" is first recorded 1920.

switch

1610s, "to strike with a switch," from switch (n.). Related: Switched; switching. The meaning "turn off or on" is first recorded 1853 of trains on tracks, 1881 of electricity, 1932 of radio or (later) television. Sense of "shift, divert" is from 1860. Meaning "to change one thing for another" is recorded from 1919. Switch-hitter is 1930s in baseball slang, 1956 in the sense of "bisexual person."

Idioms and Phrases with switched

switch

In addition to the idioms beginning with switch

switch off
switch on

also see:

asleep at the switch
bait and switch