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swing.

To rotate about an off-centre fixed point.

5 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/ˈswɪŋ/
  1. To rotate about an off-centre fixed point.

    intransitive
    The plant swung in the breeze.
  2. To dance.

    intransitive
  3. To ride on a swing.

    intransitive
    The children laughed as they swung.
  4. To participate in the swinging lifestyle; to participate in wifeswapping.

    intransitive
  5. To hang from the gallows; to be punished by hanging, swing for something or someone; (often hyperbolic) to be severely punished.

    intransitive
  6. (of a bowler) To make the ball move sideways in its trajectory.

    transitive
  7. To move sideways in its trajectory.

    intransitive
  8. To fluctuate or change.

    intransitive
    It wasn't long before the crowd's mood swung towards restless irritability.
  9. To move (an object) backward and forward; to wave.

    transitive
    He swung his sword as hard as he could.
  10. To change (a numerical result); especially to change the outcome of an election.

    transitive
  11. To make (something) work; especially to afford (something) financially.

    slang · transitive
    If it’s not too expensive, I think we can swing it.
  12. To play notes that are in pairs by making the first of the pair slightly longer than written (augmentation) and the second shorter, resulting in a bouncy, uneven rhythm.

    transitive
  13. To move one's arm in a punching motion.

    intransitive · transitive
  14. In dancing, to turn around in a small circle with one's partner, holding hands or arms.

    transitive
    "to swing one's partner", or simply "to swing"
  15. To admit or turn something for the purpose of shaping it; said of a lathe.

    transitive
    The lathe can swing a pulley of 12 inches diameter.
  16. To put (a door, gate, etc.) on hinges so that it can swing or turn.

    transitive
  17. To turn round by action of wind or tide when at anchor.

    A ship swings with the tide.
  18. To turn in a different direction.

  19. To be sexually oriented.

    swing both ways
  20. To engage in sexual activity with a man (specifically, with his penis)

    transitive
    She couldn't wait to get out of the restaurant with him, so she could take him back to her place and swing on his dick all night.
Where this word comes from

From Middle English swyngen, from Old English swingan, from Proto-West Germanic *swingan, from Proto-Germanic *swinganą (compare Low German swingen, German schwingen, Dutch zwingen, Swedish svinga), from Proto-Indo-European *swenk-, *sweng- (compare Scottish Gaelic seang (“thin”)). Related to swink.

noun/ˈswɪŋ/
  1. The act, or an instance, of swinging.

    countable · uncountable
  2. The manner in which something is swung.

    countable · uncountable
    He worked tirelessly to improve his golf swing.
    Door swing indicates direction the door opens.
  3. The sweep or compass of a swinging body.

    countable · uncountable
  4. A line, cord, or other thing suspended and hanging loose, upon which anything may swing.

    countable · uncountable
  5. A hanging seat that can swing back and forth, in a children's playground, for acrobats in a circus, or on a porch for relaxing.

    countable · uncountable
  6. An energetic and acrobatic late-1930s partner-based dance style, also known as jitterbug and lindy-hop.

    countable · uncountable
  7. The genre of music associated with this dance style.

    countable · uncountable
  8. The amount of change towards or away from something.

    countable · uncountable
  9. The amount of change towards or away from something. In an election, the increase or decrease in the number of votes for opposition parties compared with votes for the incumbent party.

    countable · uncountable
    The polls showed a wide swing to Labour.
  10. Sideways movement of the ball as it flies through the air.

    countable · uncountable
  11. Capacity of a turning lathe, as determined by the diameter of the largest object that can be turned in it.

    countable · uncountable
  12. In a musical theater production, a performer who understudies several roles.

    countable · uncountable
  13. A basic dance step in which a pair link hands and turn round together in a circle.

    countable · uncountable
  14. The maximum amount of change that has occurred or can occur; the sum of the maximum changes in any direction.

    countable · uncountable
  15. Free course; unrestrained liberty.

    countable · obsolete · uncountable
  16. Influence or power of anything put in motion.

    countable · uncountable
  17. A type of hook with the arm more extended.

    countable · uncountable
Where this word comes from

From Middle English swyngen, from Old English swingan, from Proto-West Germanic *swingan, from Proto-Germanic *swinganą (compare Low German swingen, German schwingen, Dutch zwingen, Swedish svinga), from Proto-Indo-European *swenk-, *sweng- (compare Scottish Gaelic seang (“thin”)). Related to swink.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.