Etymologically
Log in

swat

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 31 October 2026 at 15:26. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

Etymology

It is a northern English dialect and American variant of squat,[2][3][4][5][6] a verb that in older use meant to crush or squash;[6][7] Barnhart calls it probably a dialectal variant.[8] Squat is from Middle English squatten, from Old French esquatir (“to crush”),[6][7] from es- and quatir (“to press flat”), from Vulgar Latin *coāctiō, from Latin coāctus, past participle of cōgō (“to compress”).[6][7] For the sense "to hit sharply", Barnhart suggests that it may have another origin, perhaps an alteration of swap, to strike, recorded probably before 1400,[8] and Etymonline also takes it as possibly from Middle English swappen (“to strike, smite”), probably of imitative origin.[7] Partridge calls the word echoic.[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

To sit down, to squat: 1615, in Richard Brathwait's Strappado, as a northern word.[2][8][10]

Semantic evolution

The sense "to sit down" stayed in northern English dialect.[2][10] The sense "to hit with a smart slap or a violent blow" first appears before 1800 in Samuel Pegge's supplement to Grose's provincial glossary,[2] or in 1796 according to Etymonline, which calls it an American and northern English dialect word.[7][8] The noun, a smart or violent blow and also a heavy fall, is recorded from the same source.[2][7] According to Green's Dictionary of Slang, the word faded in Britain and came back from the United States, notably in the Sultan of Swat, the nickname of the big-hitting baseball player Babe Ruth in the 1920s;[11] the Merriam-Webster Unabridged records a swat in baseball as a long hit, especially a home run.[10] The OED notes that the verb is now used especially of crushing a fly with a blow,[2][12] and Weekley cites the slogan swat that fly from 1911.[13] Wright's dialect dictionary records further words spelled swat in the north: a small quantity, especially of liquid, and to squander.[14]

Timeline

  • 1615 – to sit down, squat (northern).[2][10]
  • 1796 – to strike, hit (Etymonline).[7]
  • a1800 – to hit with a smart slap; noun, a smart blow.[2]
  • early 19th century – intransitive, to hit at something.[12]
  • 1911 – swat that fly.[13]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To hit something with a sharp slap or blow, especially to kill an insect: She swatted the wasp with a rolled-up magazine.[5][10][2][6]
  2. To hit out at something, or to try to strike it: The dog swatted at the bee with its paw.[10][6][12]
  3. (dialect, England) To sit down; to squat.[10][2]

Noun

  1. A sharp or violent blow.[5][10][2][6]
  2. In baseball, a long hit, especially a home run.[10][11]
  3. (chiefly British) A swatter for killing flies.[5]

Word family

  • swatter
  • fly swat

Usage notes

Swat is also a spelling of swot, to study hard.[11][13] The capitalised SWAT is a separate word, an acronym of Special Weapons and Tactics (or Special Weapons Attack Team) recorded from 1968 in American English, for a police unit trained for especially dangerous situations.[8][10][2][5] Swat is also the name of a river and district in Pakistan and of its people.[10][2]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  6. ^ a b c d e f g The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  9. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  11. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  12. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  13. ^ a b c Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  14. ^ 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)