swing has definitions from the fields of dance,music,fine art,baseball,sport,golf,boxing,sexuality,performing arts
1
[ verb ] move in a curve or arc, usually with the intent of hitting

Examples

"He swung his left fist" "swing a bat"

Used in print

(Howard Fast, April Morning....)

I do n't know whether he was_after our rider , who had gone_by a minute before , or whether he was simply scouting conditions ; but when he passed us by , a musket roared , and he reared his horse , swung it around , and began to whip it back in the direction from which he had come .

(Frieda Arkin, "The Light of the Sea," in The...)

She swung her eyes up to the blue of the window , her jaws gently mashing the bitter beans .

(Arthur Miller, "The Prophecy," in The Best...)

She stood clutching her shawl around her shoulders until he had swung the car onto the road .

(Richard Ferber, Bitter Valley....)

She swung the quirt again , and this time he caught her wrist and pulled her out of the saddle .

Related terms

move wind_up golf_stroke

2
[ verb ] move or walk in a swinging or swaying manner

Synonyms

sway

Examples

"He swung back"

Used in print

(The Christian Science Monitor,...)

They are definitely in the same room with you , but your head starts to swing as though you were sitting on the very edge of a tennis_court watching a spirited volley .

(Louis Zara, Dark Rider....)

He stared at the far morning , expecting a pendulum to swing across the horizon .

(Robert Penn Warren, Wilderness....)

He thought_of Simms_Purdew , who once had risen at the edge of a cornfield , a maniacal scream on his lips , and swung a clubbed musket like a flail to beat down the swirl of Rebel bayonets about him .

(Bruce Palmer, "My Brother's Keeper", Many Are...)

The flat-bottomed boat swung slowly to the pull of the current .

(Octavia Waldo, A Cup of the Sun....)

One lithe leg straddled the railing and swung loosely before the creaking , torn pales .

3
[ verb ] change direction with a swinging motion; turn

Examples

"swing back" "swing forward"

Related terms

travel

4
[ verb ] influence decisively

Synonyms

swing_over

Examples

"This action swung many votes over to his side"

Used in print

(James Boylan, "Mutinity"...)

Arnold_Lodley and Michael_Perse were like the rest - lukewarm , ready to swing against Hudson in a crisis .

Related terms

influence

5
[ verb ] make a big sweeping gesture or movement

Synonyms

swing_out sweep

Used in print

(The Dallas Morning News,...)

`` It 's kind_of like golf - if you do n't swing a club very often , your timing gets off '' .

(Frank Getlein and Harold C. Gardiner, S.J., Movies,...)

The unfortunate queen mounted the scaffold ; the headsman swung his axe ; the head dropped off ; end of film .

Related terms

wield sweep

6
[ verb ] alternate dramatically between high and low values

Examples

"his mood swings" "the market is swinging up and down"

Used in print

(The Providence Journal...)

He met with enthusiastic audience approval , especially when he swung from jazz to Latin_American things like the Mambo .

Related terms

change fluctuate

7
[ verb ] hang freely

Synonyms

dangle drop

Examples

"the ornaments dangled from the tree" "The light dropped from the ceiling"

Used in print

(Harold Searles, "Schizophrenic Communication,"...)

A borderline schizophrenic young man told me that to him the various theoretical concepts about which he had been expounding , in a most articulate fashion , during session after session with me , were like great cubes of almost tangibly solid matter up in the air above him ; as he spoke I was reminded of the great bales of cargo which are swung , high in the air , from a docked steamship .

Related terms

hang droop

8
[ verb ] hit or aim at with a sweeping arm movement

Examples

"The soccer player began to swing at the referee"

Used in print

(Samuel Elkin, "The Ball Player," Nugget, 6: 5...)

Mike_Deegan tossed his glove away and began to swing at the catcher .

Related terms

aim

9
[ noun ] changing location by moving back and forth

Related terms

motion fluctuate

10
[ noun ] a state of steady vigorous action that is characteristic of an activity

Examples

"the party went with a swing" "it took time to get into the swing of things"

Related terms

action

11
[ verb ] live in a lively, modern, and relaxed style

Examples

"The Woodstock generation attempted to swing freely"

Used in print

(Charles Glicksberg, "Sex in Contemporary Literature"...)

Righteous in their denunciation of all that makes_for death , the beat prophets bid all men become cool cats ; let them learn to `` swing '' freely , to let_go , to become authentically themselves , and_then perhaps civilization will be saved .

Related terms

live

12
[ noun ] (boxing) a sweeping blow or stroke

Examples

"he took a wild swing at my head"

Related terms

blow

13
[ noun ] mechanical device used as a plaything to support someone swinging back and forth

Used in print

(Octavia Waldo, A Cup of the Sun....)

It swayed with the wicker swings and screeched with the rusted hinges of screen_doors .

14
[ verb ] be a social swinger; socialize a lot

Synonyms

get_around

Related terms

socialize socialize

15
[ noun ] (music) a jaunty rhythm in music

Synonyms

lilt

Related terms

rhythmicity

16
[ verb ] (sexuality) engage freely in promiscuous sex, often with the husband or wife of one's friends

Examples

"There were many swinging couples in the 1960's"

Related terms

fornicate swinger

17
[ verb ] have a certain musical rhythm

Examples

"The music has to swing"

Related terms

be

18
[ noun ] (sport,golf) the act of swinging a golf club at a golf ball and (usually) hitting it
19
[ noun ] (baseball,sport) in baseball; a batter's attempt to hit a pitched ball

Synonyms

cut baseball_swing

Examples

"he took a vicious cut at the ball"

Related terms

stroke

20
[ verb ] (music,performing arts) play with a subtle and intuitively felt sense of rhythm

Related terms

play music

21
[ noun ] (music,fine art) a style of jazz played by big bands popular in the 1930s; flowing rhythms but less complex than later styles of jazz

Synonyms

jive swing_music

Related terms

jazz jive

22
[ noun ] Last name, frequency rank in the U.S. is 11293
23
[ noun ] (dance) a square dance figure; a pair of dancers join hands and dance around a point between them

Related terms

country-dance square_dance

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