swab

Etymology

It is from English a back-formation from swabber, a mop or the sailor who swabbed the decks,^{[2][3][4][5][6][7][8]} which is from early modern Dutch zwabber, from zwabben (“to mop”).^[9][10][3] Barnhart calls the noun a reduced form of swabber.^[10] Partly, it is borrowed from Dutch swabbe (“mop”), now obsolete,^[11][4][10] from Middle Dutch swabbe.^[12] The verb also continues a dialect verb meaning "to sway about", Middle English swabben, which the OED takes as cognate with or borrowed from Middle Low German swabben (“to splash in water or mire”).^[9][11] Merriam-Webster Unabridged therefore derives the verb partly from this and partly from swabber, while the OED derives the noun from the verb;^[11][9] Etymonline and Barnhart date the verb "to clean with a swab" to 1719 and take it as possibly a back-formation from swabber.^[8][10] Behind these words is Proto-Germanic *swabb-, perhaps imitative, for a back-and-forth motion, especially splashing in liquid,^[8][9][13] seen also in Dutch zwabberen (“to mop”), Norwegian svabba (“to splash, wade”), West Frisian swabber (“mop”) and German Schwabber (“mop”).^{[13][9][8][12]}

Earliest recorded meaning

To sway about, in a dialect verb recorded in the Promptorium Parvulorum before 1500.^[9] The cleaning senses begin with the noun, a mop for cleaning a ship's deck, from 1653 in Merriam-Webster Unabridged and 1659 in the OED and Barnhart.^[11][9][10]

Semantic evolution

The word grew out of ship's work: swabber named the sailor who swabbed the decks from 1592, a mop from 1606, and a low, unmannerly fellow from 1612, in Jonson.^[9][8] The noun swab followed both lines: the deck mop, and a term of abuse from 1687, which Collins still gives as slang for an uncouth or worthless person.^[9][14][12] Sailors' slang also used it for a naval officer's epaulette (1793) and for a sailor (1798).^[9][8] On land it came to mean anything used for mopping up, from 1787,^[9][10][8] and in medicine a cloth or sponge for cleansing the mouth of the sick (1854),^[8] then a pad for applying medicine or taking a specimen.^[2][12] A brush for cleaning a gun's bore is recorded from 1863, in a story by Twain,^[9][8] and the oil industry's plunger from 1904.^[9] Johnson (1755) defined the noun as a mop for cleaning floors and noted that the verb was used mostly at sea.^[15] In Scottish and northern English dialect the verb meant simply to wipe.^[16]

Timeline

• before 1500 – to sway about (dialect).^[9]
• 1638 – to behave like a swabber, rudely (obsolete).^[9][2]
• 1653 – noun, a mop for cleaning a ship's deck.^[11] The OED and Barnhart date it to 1659.^[9][10]
• 1687 – noun, a term of abuse.^[9][14]
• 1705 – to clean or wipe with a swab.^[9] Etymonline, Barnhart and Merriam-Webster Unabridged date it to 1719.^[8][10][11]
• 1745 – to mop up liquid.^[9]
• 1787 – noun, any absorbent mass used for cleaning.^[9][10][8]
• 1793 – slang, a naval officer's epaulette.^[9]
• 1854 – a cloth or sponge for cleansing the mouth of the sick.^[8]
• 1863 – a brush for cleaning the bore of a gun.^[9][8]
• 1904 – in the oil industry, a plunger that draws fluid up a well.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A small wad of absorbent material such as cotton or gauze, often on a stick, used to apply medication, clean a wound or take a specimen: The nurse took a swab from inside his cheek.^[12][11][2]
2. A specimen collected with such a wad.^[12][2]
3. A mop, especially one for cleaning a ship's deck.^[12][11][9]
4. A brush for cleaning the bore of a firearm.^[12][9]
5. (slang) A worthless or uncouth person.^[12][9][2]

Verb

1. To clean or wipe with a swab or something like one: She swabbed the spilled juice off the counter.^[12][11][9]
2. To apply medication with a swab, or to take a specimen from someone with one.^[11][2][12]
3. To mop up a liquid with a swab.^[9][2][12]
4. (obsolete, 1638) To behave in a loutish way.^[9][2]

Word family

• unswabbed

Related words

• swabber

Usage notes

Merriam-Webster Unabridged also gives the spelling swob.^[11] The OED has a separate dialect swab, a pea or bean pod, of obscure origin,^[9][16] and Swab, a Swabian, from German.^[9]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
13. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
14. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
15. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
16. ^ a b Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)