swipe

present singular third person swipes · participle present swiping · participle past swiped · past swiped

1. intransitiveTo grab or bat quickly.

   The cat swiped at the shoelace.

2. transitiveTo strike with a strong blow in a sweeping motion.
3. transitiveTo scan or register by sliding (a swipecard etc.) through a reader.

   He swiped his card at the door.

4. intransitivetransitivecomputingTo interact with a touch screen by drawing one's finger rapidly across it.

   Swipe left to hide the toolbar.

   2 more examples

   This is the iPhone lock screen with its default Earth wallpaper. To unlock your phone, swipe the slider from left to right.

   2008, Erica Sadun, Taking Your iPhone to the Max, Apress, →ISBN, page 27

   But really, she is just over it all: the swiping, the monotonous getting-to-know-you conversations and the self-doubt that creeps in when one of her matches fizzles.

   2022 August 31, Catherine Pearson, “‘A Decade of Fruitless Searching’: The Toll of Dating App Burnout”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

5. informaltransitiveTo swipe right on (someone) on a dating application.

   Zac Efron needs a date. […] But would the actor resort to apps to find a partner? Joking, he said, “Amazingly, when I signed up for Tinder, nobody swiped me! They thought it was fake … That never happened.”

   2016 August 2, Lindsay Kimble, “Zac Efron Opens Up About His Dating Woes and Jokes: 'When I Signed Up for Tinder, Nobody Swiped Me!'”, in People

   1 more example

   Yas (Vivian Oparah): That is your truth. And, by the way, your man swiped me on Tinder, like, a week ago. […] Eric (Benjamin Sarpong-Broni): Mmm, no, I didn't. I didn't swipe you. […] Or anybody. […] I didn't swipe her.

   2023, Nathan Bryon, Tom Melia, directed by Raine Allen-Miller, Rye Lane

6. informaltransitiveTo steal or snatch.

   Hey! Who swiped my lunch?

   2 more examples

   "From Miss Hemmingway. Miss Hemmingway! But—but how did they come into her possession?" / "How?" I said. "Because she jolly well stole them. Pinched them! Swiped them![…]"

   1923 May 17, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, “(please specify the page)”, in The Inimitable Jeeves, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC

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

   1968, Thomas C. Ryan, 00:48:18 from the start, in The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter

   Synonyms: pinch, steal, abduct, abstract, appropriate, bag, bandit, bash and grab

7. obsoleteslangnauticalTo drink.

plural swipes

1. countableA quick grab, bat, or other motion with the hand or paw; a sweep.
2. countableA strong blow given with a sweeping motion, as with a bat or club.
3. countablecomputingAn act of interacting with a touch screen by drawing the finger rapidly across it.

   Some New Yorkers are moving beyond the swipe to venture into flirtatious panel discussions and speed dating sessions.

   2020 April 18, Alyson Krueger, “Virtual Dating Is the New Normal. Will It Work?”, in The New Yorker

4. countableAn act of passing a swipecard through a card reader.

   Owning a car in New York City is seen as a liability by many, especially when a quick Uber ride or the swipe of a MetroCard can easily get you where you need to go.

   2020 March 13, Ronnie Koenig, “Parking So Prime, the Car Is Optional”, in The New Yorker

5. countableinformalA rough guess; an estimate or swag.

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

6. countableinformalAn attack, insult or critical remark.

   The politician took a swipe at his opponents.

   2 more examples

   Biden‘s Twitter account then acknowledged the swipe, quote-tweeting Sanders shortly after the debate saying, “I’ve worked my whole life to overcome a stutter. And it’s my great honor to mentor kids who have experienced the same. It’s called empathy. Look it up.”

   2019 December 20, Abbey Marshall, “Sarah Sanders apologizes after mocking Biden’s stutter”, in Politico

   Harry took a swipe at the palace's response to a story published in 2020 suggesting the Sussexes were leaving the royal family because William had bullied them out.

   2022 December 15, Jack Royston, “Prince Harry throws more accusations at Prince William than ever before”, in Newsweek

7. uncountablePoor, weak beer or other inferior alcoholic beverage; rotgut.

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

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

   3 more examples

   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.

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

   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.

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

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

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

   Synonyms: swipes

8. countablehuman sciencesAn instance of swiping, a kind of ellipsis. See swiping.

   Furthermore, speakers accept the following swipes to varying degrees, with judgments best for (18a), slightly worse for (18b), and worst of all, though still marginally possible, for (18c).

   2002, Jason Merchant, “Swiping in Germanic”, in Jan-Wouter Zwart and Werner Abraham, editors, Studies in Comparative Germanic Syntax, page 294