▪ I. swat, n.1 north. dial. and U.S.
(swɒt)
Also swot.
[f. swat v.1 Cf. squat n.1]
A smart or violent blow. Also, a heavy fall.
| a 1800 Pegge Suppl. Grose (MS.), Swat, a Blow. 1847 Halliwell, Swat..(4) A knock, or blow; a fall. North. 1894 Outing (U.S.) XXIV. 417/2 One ‘swat’ from his [sc. a bear's] mighty fore-paw. 1909 J. London in Contemp. Rev. June 704, I..ducked a swat from a club. |
▪ II. swat, n.2
a hard worker: see swot n.
▪ III. swat, a.
obs. and dial. var. squat a.
| 1656 S. Holland Zara ii. v. (1719) 79 Thy breeding no better then that the Boars of Belgia afford their swat-bodied Bantlings. |
▪ IV. swat, v.1
(swɒt)
Also 7 swatt, 9 swot.
[north. dial. and U.S. variant of squat v.]
1. intr. To sit down, squat. north.
| 1615 R. Brathwait Strappado (1878) 129 Swatt on thy tayle man, heeres a blythy place, And ile ensure thee how I gat this grace. 1804 R. Anderson Cumbld. Ball. (c 1850) 49 They swattet tem down. Ibid. 83 Come swat thy ways down on the sattle. |
2. trans. To hit with a smart slap or a violent blow; also, to dash. Now esp., to crush (a fly, etc.) with a blow.
| a 1796 Pegge Derbicisms (E.D.S.), Swat a thing on the ground; to swat a person's brains out. a 1800 Pegge Suppl. Grose (1814), Swat, to throw down forcibly. North. 1848 in Bartlett Dict. Amer. s.v., Tell me that again, and I'll swot you over the mug. 1905 D. Wallace Lure of Labrador Wild vi. 83 George effectually disposed of the wounded goose by swatting him over the head with the paddle. 1911 Daily Record & Mail 15 July 3 A big army for the destruction of the house fly with ‘Swat the Fly’ as its battle-cry. 1916 A. Huxley Let. 29 Sept. (1969) 114 A poem..which..is destined to become a cause of rupture in the world, dividing it up into..Monts and Caps, Mouldiwarpians and Swat-that-Moleites. 1942 R.A.F. Jrnl. 18 Apr. 9 The familiar white butterflies should be ‘swatted’ wholesale. 1958 R. K. Narayan Guide vii. 139 He repelled me with a back-stroke of his left hand as if swatting a fly. 1962 K. Kesey One Flew over Cuckoo's Nest (1973) 9 One swats the backs of my legs with a broom handle to hurry me past. 1976 Times Lit. Suppl. 12 Nov. 1414/2 Identical communities to Tolmers Square have been swatted from the urban map. |
▪ V. swat, v.2
to study hard: see swot v.
▪ VI. swat
see sweat v., swote Obs., sweat.