▪ I. swatch, n.1 orig. Sc. and north.
(swɒtʃ)
Also 6–7 swache, 7 suache, swatche.
[Origin unknown.]
1. † The ‘foil’ or ‘counterstock’ of a tally (obs.); in Yorkshire, a tally ‘affixed to a piece of cloth before it is put with others into the dye-kettle’ (Robinson Whitby Gloss. 1876).
| 1512 Northumbld. Househ. Bk. (1770) 60 That the said Clerkis of the Brevements entre all the Taills of the Furniunturs in the Jornall Booke in the Countynghous every day furthwith after the Brede be delyveret to the Pantre and then the Stoke of the Taill to be delyveret to the Baker and the Swache to the Pantler. 1691 Ray N.C. Words, A Swache, a Tally: that which is fixt to Cloth sent to Dye, of which the Owner keeps the other part. a 1800 Pegge Suppl. Grose (1814), Swatch, a pattern, or tally, a term among dyers in Yorkshire, &c. |
2. A sample piece of cloth. Hence, of other materials (see also S.N.D.). Also, a collection of samples bound together, a swatch-book.
| 1647 in Sc. Jrnl. Topog. (1847) I. 95/1, I..tryid for ye neirest swachis of clothe I could find conforme to ye orders reseuid. 1690 Records New Mills Cloth Manuf. (S.H.S.) 219 That swatches of the most fashionable collours be sent to David Maxwell that he may dye them. 1830 Galt Lawrie T. vii. xi. (1849) 352, He had come with his swatches, in consequence of hearing I was likely to require a coloured coat. 1874 Crookes Dyeing & Calico-Printing 658 Few colours..do not show a distinction if a swatch be cut in halves and preserved, the one in darkness and the other in the light. 1953 Times 23 July 1/4 (Advt.), Duffle jackets and duffle coats... Swatches sent on request. 1973 Sci. Amer. June 119/2 Continue..until a piece of filter paper or swatch of cotton held close to the exit by means of long metal forceps begins to burn. 1982 Daily Tel. 2 Aug. 9/2 He wears swatches of the hats he is currently working on, hat-pinned to his tie for inspiration. |
| transf. a 1708 T. Ward Eng. Ref. i. (1710) 14 Those little swatches, Us'd by the Fair sex, called Patches. 1928 P. Grey Making of King 6 Ye'll mind an' bring a swatch o' yer wallpaper wi' ye. 1957 Brit. Commonwealth Forest Terminol. ii. 192 Swatch, a sample sheet of veneer, usually 3 ft. long and the full width of the flitch. 1965 G. McInnes Road to Gundagai iii. 38 One's wants were provided for by a swatch of neatly cut squares from the Hobart Mercury struck on a nail in the wall. 1973 Sci. Amer. Apr. 41/1 A swatch of inks as rendered by Kodak color slide films that maximize consumer satisfaction with the greenness of grass, the blueness of sky, and the healthy glow of complexions. 1981 N. Gordimer July's People 54 She knew it was impossible that he could have made free of the still-thick swatch of notes, lying swollen as the leaves of a book that has got wet and dried again. |
3. fig. A sample, specimen. Also extendedly (esp. without the notion of a sample), a portion, a clump.
| 1697 J. Sage Fundamental Charter of Presbytery Pref. (ed. 2) C vj b, Such a sample of him; such a swatch (pardon the word, if it is not English) of both his Historical and his Argumentative Skill. 1708 Caldwell Papers (Maitl. Cl.) I. 216 My Lord Macclesfield and his retinue they took for a swatch of the nation. 1719 Ramsay To Arbuckle 95 Ye's get a short swatch of my creed. 1785 Burns Holy Fair x, On this hand sits a chosen swatch, Wi' screw'd up grace-proud faces. 1823 Galt R. Gilhaize xiv, Truly..thou's no an ill swatch o' the Reformers. a 1841 R. W. Hamilton Nugæ Lit. 355 [On Yorks. Dial.] A Swatch, or smatch, is an attack, not very serious, of any evil. ‘A swatch of the fever.’ 1930 Aberdeen Press & Jrnl. 19 May 5/2 Swatches from Shakespeare... The miscellany consisted of excerpts from ‘Henry IV’,..the ghost scene in ‘Hamlet’, [etc.]. 1950 A. Lomax Mister Jelly Roll 30 The hollows of his cheeks and temples showing dark against silvery skin, and up towards the ceiling a swatch of silvery hair. 1961 J. Steinbeck Winter of our Discontent 358 A swatch from Lincoln's Second Inaugural. 1963 Punch 31 July 165/1, I..consumed unbelievable swatches of it [sc. electricity]. 1972 J. Mosedale Football ii. 23 A swatch of astroturf in the Hall leads to the present. 1975 Times Lit. Suppl. 24 Oct. 1254/1 Mr Boston gives a fair selection: the life and death of the Admirable Crichtoun from The Jewel, a reasonable swatch of Logopandecteision. |
4. Comb. swatch-book, a book of samples.
| 1956 Archit. Rev. CXIX. 286/1 One of the first firms to pin their colours to this mast is T. & W. Farmiloe Ltd., the manufacturers of Nine Elms Paints, who present the full range in the form of a truly magnificent swatch-book. 1978 Times 26 Jan. 13/5 Some of the collections were just dull... Why not just send for the swatch-book? |
▪ II. swatch, n.2 Obs. exc. dial.
[app. an irreg. variant of swath1. Cf. dial. swatch = swathe v.]
A row (of corn or grass) cut.
| 1573 Tusser Husb. (1878) 131 One spreadeth those bands, so in order to ly, As barlie (in swatches) may fill it thereby. 1901 (Lancashire) in Eng. Dial. Dict. |
▪ III. swatch, n.3 local.
(swɒtʃ)
[In local English use chiefly in eastern counties. Its relation to swash n.1 3 is not clear.]
A passage or channel of water lying between sandbanks or between a sandbank and the shore.
| 1626 in Foster Eng. Factories India (1909) III. 117 [Anchored] without the swatch of Swally. 1726 G. Roberts Four Yrs. Voy. 336 From a Mile distance off, to the Shore, are several Swatches and Channels to go through, having Water enough for any Ship. 1775 Romans Florida App. 86 There are two swatches thro' the east breaker. 1830 Lyell Princ. Geol. I. 243 A nearly circular space called the ‘swatch of no ground’ [in the middle of the Bay of Bengal]. 1889 A. T. Pask Eyes Thames 66 The famous ‘Swatch’ caused by the meeting of the Thames and Medway tides. 1912 Hannay in Blackw. Mag. Mar. 369/1 The access to the roadstead was through ‘swatches’. |
b. Comb. ˈswatchway = swash way (swash n.1 9).
| 1798 Hull Advertiser 29 Dec. 2/1 Anchors and cables, lost and left in the Humber..in the open of Patrington Swatch Way. 1851 Taylor Improvem. Tyne 85 Such is an origin of swatchways in tidal rivers. 1890 Nature 10 Apr. 539/2 The Duke of Edinburgh Channel, the deepest swatchway of the estuary. 1903 Childers Riddle of Sands xii. 154 We traversed the Steil Sand again, but by a different swatchway. |