different between swim vs stb

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English swimmen, from Old English swimman (“to swim, float”) (class III strong verb; past tense swamm, past participle geswummen), from Proto-West Germanic *swimman, from Proto-Germanic *swimman? (“to swoon, lose consciousness, swim”), from Proto-Indo-European *swem(b?)- (“to be unsteady, move, swim”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, US) IPA^(key): /sw?m/
• Rhymes: -?m

Verb

swim (third-person singular simple present swims, present participle swimming, simple past swam or (archaic) swum, past participle swum)

1. (intransitive) To move through the water, without touching the bottom; to propel oneself in water by natural means.
   • 1720, Daniel Defoe, Captain Singleton, London: J. Brotherton, p. 87,^[1]

     We were now all upon a Level, as to our travelling; being unshipp’d, for our Bark would swim no farther, and she was too heavy to carry on our Backs […]
2. (intransitive) To become immersed in, or as if in, or flooded with, or as if with, a liquid

   swimming in self-pity

   a bare few bits of meat swimming in watery sauce

3. (intransitive) To move around freely because of excess space.
   • 1777, The Poetical Preceptor; Or, a Collection of Select Pieces of Poetry, Etc

     A fam'd Sur-tout he wears, which once was blue, / And his foot swims in a capacious shoe.

4. (transitive) To traverse (a specific body of water, or a specific distance) by swimming; or, to utilize a specific swimming stroke; or, to compete in a specific swimming event.

   For exercise, we like to swim laps around the pool.

   I want to swim the 200-yard breaststroke in the finals.

   • Sometimes he thought to swim the stormy main.

5. (transitive, uncommon) To cause to swim.

   to swim a horse across a river

   Half of the guinea pigs were swum daily.

6. (intransitive, archaic) To float.
   • c. 1599, William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, Act V, Scene 1,^[3]

     Why, now, blow wind, swell billow, and swim bark!

     The storm is up and all is on the hazard.

   • 1611, King James Version of the Bible, 2 Kings 6:6,^[4]

     And he cut down a stick, and cast it in thither; and the iron did swim.

7. (intransitive) To be overflowed or drenched.

   • I am weary with my groaning; all the night make I my bed to swim; I water my couch with my tears.
8. (transitive) To immerse in water to make the lighter parts float.

   to swim wheat in order to select seed

9. (transitive, historical) To test (a suspected witch) by throwing into a river; those who floated rather than sinking were deemed to be witches.
10. (intransitive) To glide along with a waving motion.

Usage notes

• In Late Middle English and Early Modern English, the present participle form swimmand still sometimes occurred in Midlands and Northern dialects, for example?
  • The water to nourish the fish swimmand. (The Towneley plays)
  • Their young child Troiane, as swift as dolphin fish, swimmand away. (1513, Gavin Douglas, Virgil's Aeneid)

Derived terms

• sink or swim
• swim like a fish
• swimmer
• swimsuit

Translations

Noun

swim (plural swims)

1. An act or instance of swimming.

   I'm going for a swim.

2. The sound, or air bladder, of a fish.
3. (Britain) A part of a stream much frequented by fish.
4. A dance move of the 1960s in which the arms are moved in a freestyle swimming manner.

Derived terms

• in the swim

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English swime, sweme, swaime (“a dizziness, swoon, trance”), from Old English swima (“a swoon, swimming in the head”).

Noun

swim (plural swims)

1. A dizziness; swoon.

Verb

swim (third-person singular simple present swims, present participle swimming, simple past swam or (archaic) swum, past participle swum)

1. (intransitive) To be dizzy or vertiginous; have a giddy sensation; to have, or appear to have, a whirling motion.

   My head was swimming after drinking two bottles of cheap wine.

Etymology 3

Abbreviation of someone who isn't me.

Noun

swim (plural not attested)

1. (Internet slang, text messaging) Abbreviation of someone who isn't me. used as a way to avoid self-designation or self-incrimination, especially in online drug forums

See also

• swim on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• friend of mine

References

• swim at OneLook Dictionary Search