swipe

From earlier swip (with a short vowel), from Middle English swippen, swipen (“to move violently”), from Old English swipian, sweopian, swippan (“to scourge, strike, beat, lash”), from Proto-Germanic *swipōną, *swipjaną (“to move”), from Proto-Indo-European *sweyb- (“to bend, turn, swerve, sway, swing, sweep”). Cognate with German schwippen (“to whip”), Danish svippe (“to smack; crack a whip”), Icelandic svipa (“to whip; move swiftly”). Related to sweep, swoop.

• IPA^(key): /swaɪp/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪp

swipe (third-person singular simple present swipes, present participle swiping, simple past and past participle swiped)

1. (transitive, colloquial) To steal or snatch.

   Hey! Who swiped my lunch?

   • 1968, The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, 00:48:18:

     "Maybe I could swipe some Tintex from the five-and-dime."

2. (transitive) To scan or register by sliding something through a reader.

   He swiped his card at the door.

3. (intransitive) To grab or bat quickly.

   The cat swiped at the shoelace.

4. (intransitive, computing) To interact with a touch screen by drawing one's finger rapidly across it.

   Swipe left to hide the toolbar.

5. (transitive) To strike with a strong blow in a sweeping motion.

• (to interact with a touch screen): scroll

swipe (countable and uncountable, plural swipes)

1. (countable) A quick grab, bat, or other motion with the hand or paw; A sweep.
2. (countable) A strong blow given with a sweeping motion, as with a bat or club.
3. (countable, informal) A rough guess; an estimate or swag.

   Take a swipe at the answer, even if you're not sure.

4. (uncountable) Poor, weak beer or other inferior alcoholic beverage; rotgut.

   Synonym: swipes

   • 1984, Ronald T. Takaki, Pau Hana: Plantation Life and Labor in Hawaii, 1835-1920, →ISBN, page 134:

     Woozy with swipe was the only way I could stay down with patience for work.

   • 1990, Charles Langlas & ‎James Ahia, The People of Kalapana, 1823-1950:

     JJ: Did a lot of people drink? KP: Down here, oh yeah, a lot of them made their own swipe, their own potato and pineapple swipe.

   • 1998, Gary Pak, Pak: A Ricepaper Airplane, →ISBN, page 73:

     Sung Wha knows it's pineapple swipe they are drinking. Hoping that they might sell him some of the stuff, he approaches them with the dollar bill out. One worker, sucking on a fat, wet stub of a cigar, waves off the offer and shakes his head: no we aren't selling the swipe, the swipe is for us to drink and enjoy.

   • 2012, James Jones, The World War II Trilogy, →ISBN:

     Only the nights—of sitting out in the moonlight drinking the horrible tasting swipe and talking, the thinking about women —remained unchanged.

• pwise, wipes