▪ I. swab, n.1 (a.)
(swɒb)
Also 8 swabb.
[f. swab v.1 With sense 1 cf. Norw., Sw. svabb mop; with sense 2, svabb, svabba dirty person.]
1. a. A mop made of rope-yarn, etc. used for cleaning and drying the deck, etc. on board ship.
| 1659 Torriano, Strofinaccio.., a swab in a ship, a clout⁓mop in a boat. 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine (1780). 1797 S. James Narr. Voy. 230 We..choaked the pumps up with wringing swabs. 1820 W. Scoresby Acc. Arctic Reg. II. 233 A small broom and a ‘swab’. 1893 M. Pemberton Iron Pirate 182 Others of the crew brought buckets and swabs unbidden, and cleansed the place. |
b. Anything used for mopping up; an absorbent mass of rag, cotton-wool, or the like, used for cleansing; any mass or bundle of stuff that takes up moisture, or that, being soaked, is applied to a surface.
Also Med. a specimen of a morbid secretion, etc., taken with a swab for bacteriological examination.
| 1787 M. Cutler in Life, etc. (1888) I. 243 The hostler is at the door, ready to take your horse,..rubs him down, then washes him with a swab and wipes him dry. 1828 Sporting Mag. XXII. 354 The swab, which, when well saturated with water, is tied round the outside of the coronets. 1842 Motley Corr. (1889) I. iv. 117 The archbishop with a little mop or swab twirling water on all the dignitaries. 1854 Poultry Chron. I. 369/1 If they rattle badly in the throat, make a swab by tying a little tow on a small stick, and swab their throats out with the same mixture. 1888 Hasluck Model Engin. Handybk. (1900) 139 The mixture can be applied with a small brush, or a swab tied to the end of a stick. 1903 [see swab v.1 3]. 1907 M. H. Gordon Abel's Labor. Handbk. Bacteriol. 165 A plug of sterile wool fixed to a wooden rod or wire (i.e. a ‘swab’). 1908 Animal Managem. 339 Keep cold swabs over the hoofs. |
c. A cylindrical brush or cleaner for cleaning out the bore of a firearm; a soft brush for wetting the mould in founding.
| 1863 ‘Mark Twain’ Celebr. Jumping Frog (1867) 73 A sheet was wound around me until I resembled a swab for a Columbiad [cannon]. 1874 tr. V. Hugo's Ninety-Three iii. i. iii. II. 174 He took the swab and rammer himself, loaded the piece, sighted it, and fired. 1875 Knight Dict. Mech. 2465/2 Swab..is used..to wet the parting edge before drawing the pattern, and also to moisten parts of the mold requiring repairs. |
d. A naval officer's epaulette. slang. Also † transf., a naval officer. Obs.
| 1793 C. Dibdin in Britannic Mag. I. 25/2 And there's never a swab but the captain knows the stem from the stern of the ship. 1798 Sporting Mag. XII. 35 He makes use of no swabs (gold shoulder knots). 1833 M. Scott Tom Cringle xv, If half a dozen skippers..were to evaporate during the approaching hot months he may have some small chance of tother Swab. 1834 Marryat P. Simple xli, I had shipped the swab... I'm lieutenant of the Rattlesnake. 1849 Cupples Green Hand i, A fat fellow with red breeches and yaller swabs on his shoulders, like a captain of marines. 1850 H. Melville White Jacket II. xliii. 289 Touch your tile whenever a swob (officer) speaks to you. |
e. A piece of stuff that hangs loose, trails, etc.
| 1862 Thornbury Turner II. 322 The swab of a handkerchief hanging from the side-pocket of his tail-coat. 1862 Trollope N. Amer. I. 300 At every hundred yards some unhappy man treads upon the silken swab which she trails behind her. |
f. Oil Industry. A device in the form of a plunger with a valve, used to raise fluid in a well and induce a flow.
| 1904 Dialect Notes II. 391 Swab, n., a tool used in drilling... When water comes in faster than it can be got out by the sand-pump, the swab is run down. The fluid passes through it, and by it several hundred feet of fluid can be raised out of the hole at one run. 1916 A. B. Thompson Oil-Field Devel. x. 482 The early swab consisted of a hollow steel barrel, around which was wrapped sufficient hemp..to tightly fit the well casing when inserted. 1930 W. H. Osgood Increasing Recovery of Petroleum I. x. 169 Swabbing..may result in the forming of emulsions when the swab is run too low in the fluid and water is present. 1974 P. L. Moore et al. Drilling Practices Manual ix. 241 Swab pressures are associated with fluid flow, caused by pulling equipment out of a liquid filled bore-hole. |
2. † a. = swabber1 1. b. A term of abuse or (now often mild) contempt: cf. swabber1 2.
| 1687 M. Taubman London's Tri. 7 Green-men, Swabs, Satyrs, and Attendants innumerable. 1706 E. Ward Wooden World Diss. (1708) 64 Provided always, that the Swab consign him over his Wages for his Labour. 1710 C. Shadwell Fair Quaker Deal i. i. 6 If the Government did but know what a Swabb thou art. 1748 Smollett Rod. Rand. (1812) I. 11 None of your jaw, you swab. 1798 Lady Hamilton Let. to Nelson 8 Sept., I would have been rather an English powder-monkey or a swab in that great victory than an emperor out of it. 1816 Scott Let. in Lockhart (1837) IV. i. 15, I have seen the great swab, who is supple as a glove. 1835 Marryat Jacob Faithful xx, He said t'other day I was a drunken old swab. 1860 All Year Round No. 66. 384 Look there, you swabs! Don't you see that second jib towing overboard? 1887 Besant The World Went xxix, Luke was a grass comber and a land swab. 1899 Somerville & Ross Irish R.M. 240 The men 're rather a lot of swabs, but they know the coast. 1907 Quiller-Couch Poison Island vii. 60 The Mayor of Falmouth was a well-meaning old swab. |
3. attrib.: swab-hitch n., Naut. (see quot.); hence swab-hitch v., to secure with a swab-hitch; swab-man, a naval officer wearing epaulettes; swab-pot Founding, ‘an iron vessel containing water and the founder's swab’ (Knight Dict. Mech. 1875); swab-rope Naut., swab-stick (see quots.); swab-washer, -wringer Naut., one who washes or wrings out swabs.
| 1883 Man. Seamanship for Boys 88 A *swab-hitch..is..used for bending a rope's end to swabs when washing them overboard. Ibid. 190 Swab-hitch it over the ring and seize the end back. |
| 1836 E. Howard R. Reefer xl, A little *swab⁓man..jumped on the..deck. |
| 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., *Swab-rope, a line bent to the eye of a swab for dipping it overboard in washing it. |
| 1839 Ure Dict. Arts 836 If the ground be very wet, and the hole gets full of mud, it is cleaned out by a stick bent at the end into a fibrous brush, called a *swab-stick. 1890 Billings Nat. Med. Dict., Swab⁓stick, a rod of wood wrapped at one end with cotton, used in making applications to the uterus or vagina. |
| 1836 E. Howard R. Reefer xxvii, Present that piece of paper..to the head *swabwasher. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. s.v., The principal swab-washer, or captain of the head, in large ships. |
| 1821 Blackw. Mag. X. 426 A waister, a term which is equally applicable to sweepers, *swab-wringers,..and drudges of all descriptions. |
4. as adj. Lubberly.
| 1914 Blackw. Mag. Nov. 648/2 About the swabbest lot that ever left port. |
▪ II. swab, n.2 Now s.w. dial.
(swɒb)
[perh. the same word as prec.]
= swabber2.
| 1681 T. Flatman Heraclitus Ridens No. 40 (1713) II. 3 He has all the Game in his Hand, all the Trumps and Swabbes. a 1840 in C. E. Byles Life & Lett. R. S. Hawker vi. (1905) 73 Us was settin' playin' swabs (‘all fours’) up to ‘The Bush’. 1880 W. Cornwall Gloss. s.v. Swabbers, ‘I never cared for whisk since swabs went out of fashion’. Said by an old lady at Penzance about ten years since... Each player before beginning to play puts in the pool a fixed sum for swabs. 1890 Glouc. Gloss., Swabs or Swabbers, honours at whist. |
▪ III. swab, n.3 dial.
[Origin obscure. Cf. swad n.3]
A bean- or pea-shell.
| 1659 Torriano, The swab (or cod, of beanes pease, &c.), scaffa, guscio [cf. Guscio..swad]. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), Swab, a Cod of Beans. 1825–80 Jamieson, Swab, the husk of the pea; pease swabs. |
▪ IV. swab, v.1
(swɒb)
Also 9 swob.
[In branch I, cogn. w. or a. MLG. swabben to splash in water or mire, LG. swabben to splash, (of soft bodies) to sway, also, to slap, flap. In branch II, back-formation from swabber1.
The root swab- denoting backward-and-forward motion, esp. splashing or dabbling in liquid, is repr. in Du. zwabben to swab, do dirty work, be tossed about, Norw. svabba to spill water, wade, splash, befoul, WFris. swabje to swim (of waterfowl), to roam about. See also swabble.]
I. 1. intr. To sway about. dial.
| 14.. [see swabble]. a 1854 Clare MS. Poems, The billows swab behind. 1854 A. E. Baker Northampt. Gloss., Swob, to sway and vibrate with the wind, to wave. 1881 Leicestersh. Gloss., Swab, to sway, like boughs in the wind. 1887 S. Chesh. Gloss., Swob, to sway beneath the feet; said of marshy ground. |
II. † 2. ? To act like a swab or swabber; to behave in an unmannerly fashion. Obs. rare.
| 1638 Ford Fancies ii. i, Rudeness! Keep off, or I shall—Sawcy groom, learn manners! Go swab amongst your goblins. |
3. To apply a swab to; to cleanse or wipe with or as with a swab; to mop up. Also with down.
| 1719 D'Urfey Pills (1872) III. 304 All hands up aloft, Swab the Coach fore and aft. 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine (1780), Fauberter, to swab a ship's decks, &c. 1834 Marryat P. Simple vi, The main-deck, which they were swabbing dry. 1836 E. Howard R. Reefer xliv, ‘It melts me,’ responded the doctor, swabbing his face with the napkin. 1840 R. H. Dana Bef. Mast ii, After we had finished, swabbed down decks, and coiled up the rigging. 1852 Dickens Bleak Ho. xvii, If you only have to swab a plank, you should swab it as if Davy Jones were after you. 1854 [see swab n.1 1 b]. 1882 Barnett in Macm. Mag. XLVI. 174 The prisoners were ‘swabbing’ their filthy dens! 1883 F. M. Crawford Dr. Claudius ix. 147 A party of red-capped tars were..swabbing the forward deck. 1903 Lancet 4 Apr. 946/1 After swabbing out the throat with a swab from the throat of a case of scarlet fever an exudative tonsillitis resulted. |
4. To mop up (liquid) with or as with a swab.
| 1745 P. Thomas Jrnl. Anson's Voy. 285 It seems they had ten Men quartered on Purpose to swab up the Blood. 1819 G. Beattie Bark 128, I swabbed from my cheeks the tears and the spray. 1837 Marryat Snarleyyow xxxvi, The corporal..swabbed up the blood. |
5. To souse as with a mop.
| 1762 Mills Syst. Pract. Husb. I. 155 Thus we see a smith swab and wet his coals. |
6. To draw like a swab over a surface.
| 1892 Photogr. Ann. II. 47 The plate is sloped, and the brush..is swabbed across the required portion. |
7. Oil Industry. To introduce a swab (swab n.1 (a.) 1 f) into (an oil-well) in order to induce a flow.
| 1916 A. B. Thompson Oil-Field Devel. x. 482 It was the local custom to swab wells at intervals. 1974 P. L. Moore et al. Drilling Practices Manual ix. 245 This deceleration pressure indicates a well can be swabbed when running pipe into the hole. |
▪ V. † swab, v.2 Obs.
Rare variant of swap v.
| 1611 Cotgr., Troquer, to trucke, chop, swab. |