SWISH

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does swish mean? 

• SWISH (noun)
  The noun SWISH has 1 sense:

1. a brushing or rustling sound

  Familiarity information: SWISH used as a noun is very rare.

• SWISH (adjective)
  The adjective SWISH has 1 sense:

1. elegant and fashionable

  Familiarity information: SWISH used as an adjective is very rare.

• SWISH (verb)
  The verb SWISH has 1 sense:

1. move with or cause to move with a whistling or hissing sound

  Familiarity information: SWISH used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SWISH (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A brushing or rustling sound

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Hypernyms ("swish" is a kind of...):

sound (the sudden occurrence of an audible event)

Derivation:

swish (move with or cause to move with a whistling or hissing sound)

swishy (resembling a sustained 'sh' or soft whistle)

• SWISH (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Elegant and fashionable

Synonyms:

classy; posh; swish

Context example:

a swish pastry shop on the Rue du Bac

Similar:

fashionable; stylish (having elegance or taste or refinement in manners or dress)

Domain usage:

colloquialism (a colloquial expression; characteristic of spoken or written communication that seeks to imitate informal speech)

• SWISH (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they swish    ... he / she / it swishes   
Past simple: swished   
Past participle: swished   
-ing form: swishing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Move with or cause to move with a whistling or hissing sound

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Synonyms:

lap; swish; swoosh; swosh

Context example:

The curtain swooshed open

Hypernyms (to "swish" is one way to...):

go; sound (make a certain noise or sound)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

swish (a brushing or rustling sound)

 Context examples 

All around him Alleyne could hear the stern, short orders of the master-bowmen, while the air was filled with the keen twanging of the strings and the swish and patter of the shafts.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The four-in-hand was swishing down it as hard as the horses could gallop.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Well, suddenly out of the darkness, out of the night, there swooped something with a swish like an aeroplane.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Usually, the mouthwash is swished around the mouth and expelled.

(Mouthwash Dosage Form, NCI Thesaurus)

The swish of them was enough to set him a-bristle with suspicion, and on a windy day she could not approach him at all.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

It was the clank of the levers and the swish of the leaking cylinder.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

But now, alas, how welcome would have been the feel of their presence, the frou-frou and swish-swish of their skirts which I had so cordially detested!

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

The man at the helm was watching the luff of the sail and whistling away gently to himself, and that was the only sound excepting the swish of the sea against the bows and around the sides of the ship.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

A few great drops came pattering loudly down, and then in a moment the steady swish of a brisk shower, with the dripping and dropping of the leaves.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The driving rain, the cursing and screams of pain, the swish of the blows, the yelling of orders and advice, the heavy smell of the damp cloth—every incident of that scene of my early youth comes back to me now in my old age as clearly as if it had been but yesterday.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)