swab

See also: Swab

English

Etymology

Mid 17th century (in the sense 'mop for cleaning the decks'): back-formation from Middle English swabber (“sailor detailed to swab decks”), from Middle Dutch zwabber, from a Germanic base meaning 'splash' or 'sway', also found as nautical German Schwabber and Volga German Schwabber ("scrubber, mop, swab")

Pronunciation

• enPR: swŏb, IPA^(key): /swɒb/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒb

Noun

swab (plural swabs)

1. (medicine) A small piece of soft, absorbent material, such as gauze, used to clean wounds, apply medicine, or take samples of body fluids. Often attached to a stick or wire to aid access.
2. A sample taken with a swab (piece of absorbent material).
3. A piece of material used for cleaning or sampling other items like musical instruments or guns.
4. A mop, especially on a ship.
5. (slang) A sailor; a swabby.
   • 1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, chapter 25, in Treasure Island, London, Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC:

     As for that swab, he's good and dead, he is.

6. (slang) A naval officer's epaulet.

Synonyms

• (sailor): swabby

Derived terms

• cotton swab
• fire swab
• swab hitch
• swab jockey

 

Translations

a small piece of soft, absorbent material

• Bulgarian: тампон (bg) m (tampon)
• Catalan: escovilló (ca) m
• Dutch: watje, prop
• Faroese: tvørri m
• German: Tupfer (de) m
• Italian: tampone (it) m
• Latin: turunda f
• Maori: kope
• Polish: wacik (pl) m
• Spanish: hisopo (es) m (Arg., Mex., Ur. y Ven.)

A sample taken with a swab

• Dutch: uitstrijkje (nl)
• German: Abstrich (de) m
• Italian: tampone (it) m
• Macedonian: брис m (bris)
• Russian: мазок (ru) m (mazok)
• Spanish: frotis (es) m
• Turkish: sıyırma (tr)

A piece of material used for cleaning or sampling other items like musical instruments or guns

• Catalan: escovilló (ca) m
• Dutch: poetsvod,doekje
• German: Läppchen n, Tupfer (de) m
• Hungarian: rongy (hu), törlőrongy (hu)
• Irish: ceirt f
• Italian: panno (it) m, straccio (it) m
• Serbo-Croatian: tupfer (sh) m

A mop, especially on a ship

• Bulgarian: моп m (mop)
• Dutch: zwabber (nl)
• German: Wischmopp (de) m
• Ido: swabro (io)
• Portuguese: cotonete (pt) m
• Swedish: svabb (sv)
• Turkish: sıyırma (tr)

A sailor

• Bulgarian: матрос (bg) m (matros)
• Dutch: koopvaardijmatroos
• German: Seemann (de) m, Matrose (de) m
• Hungarian: tengerész (hu)

Verb

swab (third-person singular simple present swabs, present participle swabbing, simple past and past participle swabbed)

1. (transitive) To use a swab on something, or clean something with a swab.

   swab the deck of a ship

   • 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter VI, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:

     He had one hand on the bounce bottle—and he'd never let go of that since he got back to the table—but he had a handkerchief in the other and was swabbing his deadlights with it.

Translations

To use a swab on something, or clean something with a swab

• Bulgarian: бърша с моп (bǎrša s mop)
• Dutch: zwabberen, dweilen
• German: putzen (de), abputzen (de), wischen (de), abwischen (de)
• Ido: swabragar (io)
• Luxembourgish: betuppen
• Russian: вытира́ть (ru) (vytirátʹ), чи́стить (ru) (čístitʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian: obrisati (sh)
• Swedish: svabba (sv), moppa (sv), våttorka

Anagrams

• AWBs, wabs

Egyptian

Romanization

swab

1. Manuel de Codage transliteration of swꜥb.