swipe

Etymology

From earlier swip (with a short vowel), from Middle English swippen, swipen (“to move violently”), from Old English swipian, sweopian, swippan (“to scourge, strike, beat, lash”), from Proto-West Germanic *swippjan, *swipōn, *swipēn, from Proto-Germanic *swipōną, *swipjaną, *swipāną (“to move”), from Proto-Indo-European *sweyb- (“to bend, turn, swerve, sway, swing, sweep”). Cognate with German schwippen (“to whip”), Danish svippe (“to smack; crack a whip”), Icelandic svipa (“to whip; move swiftly”). Related to sweep, swoop.

verb

1. (intransitive) To grab or bat quickly.
   The cat swiped at the shoelace.
2. (transitive) To strike with a strong blow in a sweeping motion.
3. (transitive) To scan or register by sliding (a swipecard etc.) through a reader.
   He swiped his card at the door.
4. (transitive, intransitive, graphical user interface) To interact with a touch screen by drawing one's finger rapidly across it.
   Coordinate term: scroll
   Swipe left to hide the toolbar.
   This is the iPhone lock screen with its default Earth wallpaper. To unlock your phone, swipe the slider from left to right. 2008, Erica Sadun, Taking Your iPhone to the Max, Apress, page 27
   But really, she is just over it all: the swiping, the monotonous getting-to-know-you conversations and the self-doubt that creeps in when one of her matches fizzles. 2022-08-31, Catherine Pearson, “‘A Decade of Fruitless Searching’: The Toll of Dating App Burnout”, in The New York Times, →ISSN
5. (transitive, informal) To swipe right on (someone) on a dating application.
   Zac Efron needs a date. […] But would the actor resort to apps to find a partner? Joking, he said, “Amazingly, when I signed up for Tinder, nobody swiped me! They thought it was fake … That never happened.” 2016-08-02, Lindsay Kimble, “Zac Efron Opens Up About His Dating Woes and Jokes: 'When I Signed Up for Tinder, Nobody Swiped Me!'”, in People
   Yas (Vivian Oparah): That is your truth. And, by the way, your man swiped me on Tinder, like, a week ago. […] Eric (Benjamin Sarpong-Broni): Mmm, no, I didn't. I didn't swipe you. […] Or anybody. […] I didn't swipe her. 2023, Nathan Bryon, Tom Melia, directed by Raine Allen-Miller, Rye Lane
6. (transitive, informal) To steal or snatch.
   Hey! Who swiped my lunch?
   Maybe I could swipe some Tintex from the five-and-dime. 1968, Thomas C. Ryan, 00:48:18 from the start, in The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter

noun

1. (countable) A quick grab, bat, or other motion with the hand or paw; a sweep.
2. (countable) A strong blow given with a sweeping motion, as with a bat or club.
3. (countable, graphical user interface) An act of interacting with a touch screen by drawing the finger rapidly across it.
   Some New Yorkers are moving beyond the swipe to venture into flirtatious panel discussions and speed dating sessions. 2020-04-18, Alyson Krueger, “Virtual Dating Is the New Normal. Will It Work?”, in The New Yorker
4. (countable) An act of passing a swipecard through a card reader.
   Owning a car in New York City is seen as a liability by many, especially when a quick Uber ride or the swipe of a MetroCard can easily get you where you need to go. 2020-03-13, Ronnie Koenig, “Parking So Prime, the Car Is Optional”, in The New Yorker
5. (countable, informal) A rough guess; an estimate or swag.
   Take a swipe at the answer, even if you're not sure.
6. (countable, informal) An attack, insult or critical remark.
   The politician took a swipe at his opponents.
   Biden‘s Twitter account then acknowledged the swipe, quote-tweeting Sanders shortly after the debate saying, “I’ve worked my whole life to overcome a stutter. And it’s my great honor to mentor kids who have experienced the same. It’s called empathy. Look it up.” 2019-12-20, Abbey Marshall, “Sarah Sanders apologizes after mocking Biden’s stutter”, in Politico
   Harry took a swipe at the palace's response to a story published in 2020 suggesting the Sussexes were leaving the royal family because William had bullied them out. 2022-12-15, Jack Royston, “Prince Harry throws more accusations at Prince William than ever before”, in Newsweek
7. (uncountable) Poor, weak beer or other inferior alcoholic beverage; rotgut.
   Woozy with swipe was the only way I could stay down with patience for work. 1984, Ronald T. Takaki, Pau Hana: Plantation Life and Labor in Hawaii, 1835-1920, page 134
   JJ: Did a lot of people drink? KP: Down here, oh yeah, a lot of them made their own swipe, their own potato and pineapple swipe. 1990, Charles Langlas, James Ahia, The People of Kalapana, 1823-1950
   Sung Wha knows it's pineapple swipe they are drinking. Hoping that they might sell him some of the stuff, he approaches them with the dollar bill out. One worker, sucking on a fat, wet stub of a cigar, waves off the offer and shakes his head: no we aren't selling the swipe, the swipe is for us to drink and enjoy. 1998, Gary Pak, Pak: A Ricepaper Airplane, page 73
   Only the nights—of sitting out in the moonlight drinking the horrible tasting swipe and talking, the thinking about women —remained unchanged. 2012, James Jones, The World War II Trilogy