different between seesaw vs swing

English

Alternative forms

• see-saw

Etymology

Probably a frequentative imitative of rhythmic back-and-forth, up-and-down or zigzagging motion, such as teeter-totter, zigzag, flip-flop, ping pong, etc., under the umbrella term of reduplication; also likely influenced by the verbs see and saw of either present or past tense.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?si?s??/

Noun

seesaw (plural seesaws)

1. A structure composed of a plank, balanced in the middle, used as a game in which one person goes up as the other goes down.

   Synonym: teeter-totter

2. A series of up-and-down movements.
3. A series of alternating movements or feelings.

   • He has been arguing in a circle; there is thus a see-saw between the hypothesis and the fact.

Translations

Verb

seesaw (third-person singular simple present seesaws, present participle seesawing, simple past and past participle seesawed)

1. (intransitive) To use a seesaw.
2. (intransitive, by extension) To fluctuate.
3. (transitive) To cause to move backward and forward in seesaw fashion.
   • 1832, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Eugene Aram

     He see-saws himself to and fro.

Translations

Adjective

seesaw (comparative more seesaw, superlative most seesaw)

1. fluctuating.

Anagrams

• Weases

English

Etymology

From Middle English swingen, from Old English swingan, from Proto-Germanic *swingan? (compare Low German swingen, German schwingen, Dutch zwingen, Swedish svinga), from Proto-Indo-European *sweng- (compare Scottish Gaelic seang (“thin”)). Related to swink.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?sw??/
• Rhymes: -??

Verb

swing (third-person singular simple present swings, present participle swinging, simple past swung or (archaic or dialectal) swang, past participle swung or (archaic) swungen)

1. (intransitive) To rotate about an off-centre fixed point.

   The plant swung in the breeze.

   • 1912, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tarzan of the Apes, Chapter 12

     With one accord the tribe swung rapidly toward the frightened cries, and there found Terkoz holding an old female by the hair and beating her unmercifully with his great hands.
2. (intransitive) To dance.
3. (intransitive) To ride on a swing.

   The children laughed as they swung.

4. (intransitive) To participate in the swinging lifestyle; to participate in wife-swapping.
5. (intransitive) To hang from the gallows.
6. (intransitive, cricket, of a ball) to move sideways in its trajectory.
7. (intransitive) To fluctuate or change.

   It wasn't long before the crowd's mood swung towards restless irritability.

8. (transitive) To move (an object) backward and forward; to wave.

   He swung his sword as hard as he could.

9. (transitive) To change (a numerical result); especially to change the outcome of an election.
10. (transitive) To make (something) work; especially to afford (something) financially.

    If it’s not too expensive, I think we can swing it.

11. (transitive, music) To play notes that are in pairs by making the first of the pair slightly longer than written (augmentation) and the second shorter, resulting in a bouncy, uneven rhythm.
12. (transitive, cricket) (of a bowler) to make the ball move sideways in its trajectory.
13. (transitive and intransitive, boxing) To move one's arm in a punching motion.
14. (transitive) In dancing, to turn around in a small circle with one's partner, holding hands or arms.

    "to swing one's partner", or simply "to swing"

15. (transitive, engineering) To admit or turn something for the purpose of shaping it; said of a lathe.

    The lathe can swing a pulley of 12 inches diameter.

16. (transitive, carpentry) To put (a door, gate, etc.) on hinges so that it can swing or turn.
17. (nautical) To turn round by action of wind or tide when at anchor.

    A ship swings with the tide.

Troponyms

• (to rotate about an off-centre fixed point): pivot, swivel

Derived terms

• come out swinging
• overswing
• swing into action
• swingle

Translations

Noun

swing (countable and uncountable, plural swings)

1. The manner in which something is swung.
2. The sweep or compass of a swinging body.
3. A line, cord, or other thing suspended and hanging loose, upon which anything may swing.
5. A hanging seat in a children's playground, for acrobats in a circus, or on a porch for relaxing.
6. A dance style.
7. (music) The genre of music associated with this dance style.
8. The amount of change towards or away from something.
   • 1853, Elizabeth Gaskell, Cranford

     Miss Pole came round with a swing to as vehement a belief in the sorrowful tale as she had been sceptical before […]

   1. (politics) In an election, the increase or decrease in the number of votes for opposition parties compared with votes for the incumbent party.

      The polls showed a wide swing to Labour.

9. (cricket) Sideways movement of the ball as it flies through the air.
10. Capacity of a turning lathe, as determined by the diameter of the largest object that can be turned in it.
11. In a musical theater production, a performer who understudies several roles.
12. A basic dance step in which a pair link hands and turn round together in a circle.
13. This term needs a definition. Please help out and add a definition, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.
14. (obsolete) Free course; unrestrained liberty.

    • Take thy swing.

    • 1788, Edmund Burke, speech in the Impeachment of Warren Hastings

      To prevent anything which may prove an obstacle on the full swing of his genius.

15. Influence or power of anything put in motion.
16. (boxing) A type of hook with the arm more extended.

Quotations

• 1937 June 11, Judy Garland, “All God’s Chillun Got Rhythm”, A day at the races, Sam Wood (director), Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

  All God’s chillun got rhythm. All God's chillun got swing.

  Maybe haven't got money, maybe haven't got shoes.

  All God’s chillun got rhythm for to push away their blues.

Derived terms

• sex swing
• swing and a miss
• swing of things
• swings and roundabouts
• what you lose on the swings you gain on the roundabouts

Translations

Anagrams

• Gwins, wings

Czech

Noun

swing m

1. swing (dance)

Further reading

• swing in P?íru?ní slovník jazyka ?eského, 1935–1957
• swing in Slovník spisovného jazyka ?eského, 1960–1971, 1989

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English swing.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /swi?/

Noun

swing m (plural swings)

1. swing; several senses

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from English swing.

Noun

swing m (invariable)

1. swing (music and dance style; golf swing)

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from English swing.

Noun

swing m (plural swings)

1. swing (a dance and music style)
2. swinging (exchange of partners for sex)

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from English swing.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?swin/, [?sw?n]

Noun

swing m (plural swings)

1. swing (dance)