swish

Etymology

It is of imitative origin,^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} probably imitating the sound of something brushing against or moving through something else.^[8][9] Klein compares swash, under which Partridge treats it,^[10][11] and Weekley names the sound of a rod or a scythe.^[12] The noun is from the verb.^[9][8] For the adjective "smart, fashionable", the OED suggests the same imitative formation, the Shorter Oxford the noun, and Green's Dictionary of Slang the swishing of a fashionable dress,^[2][5][13] while Merriam-Webster Unabridged calls it an English dialect word of unknown origin.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

To move with a swish, or to make the sound it expresses: 1756, in E. Perronet's Mitre.^[2][9][8][3]

Semantic evolution

The transitive use, to make something move with a swish, especially a tail, followed in 1799, in Coleridge and Southey.^[2][8] The noun, a hissing sound like that of a switch moved fast through the air, is first recorded in 1820 in John Clare's poems.^[2][9][3] Schoolboys' slang gave the verb "to flog, to cane" by 1856, in Thackeray,^[2][8][13] and the noun a cane or a stroke with one from 1860;^[2] in fox-hunting, to swish a high hedge was to jump it, brushing through the twigs at the top (1825).^[2] The adjective "smart, elegant" is recorded from 1879, in a note on the speech of Lydford in Devon,^[2][13][14] though Merriam-Webster Unabridged dates it to 1766.^[3] In American slang the noun came to mean a gay man, especially one thought effeminate: Etymonline places it in 1930s homosexual slang, probably from the idea of a mincing motion, Green's Dictionary of Slang has it from 1939 and the OED from 1941.^[8][13][2] Cricket has used it since 1963 for a quick or careless attacking stroke.^[2] In basketball a shot that drops through the hoop without touching the rim is a swish;^[15] Hendrickson credits the cry swish! to the announcer Marty Glickman at Madison Square Garden in the 1930s,^[16] and Barry Popik says Glickman heard Knicks players use it and made it his own.^(Popik|"“Swish!” (basketball term)", 15 December 2011) In Scottish and English dialect the verb was used of water rushing noisily and of a fierce wind, and in Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire an adverb swish meant obliquely or awry.^[14]

Timeline

• 1756 – verb, to move with a swish, to make a swishing sound.^[2][9][3]
• 1799 – verb, to cause something to move with a swish, especially a tail.^[2][8]
• 1820 – noun, a hissing sound, as of a switch moved through the air.^[2][9][3]
• 1825 – verb, to jump a high hedge, brushing through its top.^[2]
• 1837 – adverb, with a swish.^[2]
• 1856 – verb, to flog, especially at school.^[2][13]
• 1860 – noun, a cane or birch for flogging, or a stroke with it.^[2]
• 1879 – adjective, smart, elegant, fashionable.^[2][13]
• 1939 – noun, US slang, a gay man.^[13][2]
• 1963 – noun, in cricket, a rapid or careless attacking stroke.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To move with a soft hissing, whistling or brushing sound: Skis swished over the fresh snow.^[3][17][4]
2. Of fabric, to rustle: Her long silk skirt swished as she walked.^[17][4]
3. To make something move with such a sound; to whisk or flourish: The cow swished her tail at the flies.^[3][4][2]
4. To swirl a liquid around in a glass or in the mouth.^[4][3]
5. To make a basketball shot that drops through the rim without touching it.^[15]
6. (slang, rare) To flog or cane.^[17][4][2]

Noun

1. A hissing, whistling or rustling sound, or a movement that makes one: the swish of the windscreen wipers.^{[3][17][4][2]}
2. A rod for flogging, or a stroke with one.^[17][2]
3. (US slang, offensive) An effeminate gay man.^[17][2][13]
4. (cricket, colloquial) A quick or careless attacking stroke.^[2]

Adjective

1. (informal, chiefly British) Smart and fashionable; posh: a swish hotel near the harbour.^{[17][3][5][13]}

Adverb

1. With a swish.^[3][2]

Word family

• swisher
• swishingly
• swishy

Related words

• swash

Usage notes

A separate noun swish, for a building material of mortar and mud or sun-dried earth used in West Africa, is recorded from 1863;^[2][17][3] its origin is unknown, perhaps a West African language.^[5][3][2]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
10. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
11. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
12. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
13. ^ a b c d e f g h i Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
14. ^ 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)
15. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
16. ^ Hendrickson, Robert (2008), The Facts on File Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins, 4th ed., New York: Facts on File
17. ^ a b c d e f g h Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins