ENGLISH
REFERENCE

swim

n. countable
B1 Intermediate Oxford US //ˈswɪm// UK //swˈɪm// swim Archaic General-service

n. a period of time spent moving through water for exercise or fun. You usually use it with the verb 'go' or 'have'.

n. an instance or period of moving through water by means of bodily movement. Frequently used as the object of the light verbs 'go for' or 'have'.


SIMPLE

I usually go for a swim before work.

CONTEXTUAL

After a long day of hiking in the heat, a quick swim in the lake felt incredibly refreshing.

COMPLEX

The athlete completed a rigorous morning swim to build endurance before transitioning to the cycling portion of her triathlon training schedule.

Synonyms
Antonyms
Etymology 1

From Middle English swymmen, 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 swimmaną (“to swim”), from Proto-Indo-European *swem(bʰ)- (“to be unsteady, move, swim”). Cognates Cognate with North Frisian sweem, swome, swume, swumi, swumme, swääm (“to swim”), Saterland Frisian and West Frisian swimme (“to swim”), Dutch zwemmen (“to swim”), German schwimmen (“to swim”), Limburgish schwämme, zwömme (“to swim”), Low German swimmen (“to swim”), Luxembourgish schwammen (“to swim”), Vilamovian švymma, śwyma, śwymma (“to swim”), Yiddish שווימען (shvimen, “to swim”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål svømme (“to swim”), Faroese svimja (“to swim”), Norn suma (“to swim”), Norwegian Nynorsk svemja, svemje, svømma, svømme, symja, symje (“to swim”), Swedish simma (“to swim”).

Etymology 2

From Middle English swime, sweme, swaime (“a dizziness, swoon, trance”), from Old English swīma (“a swoon, swimming in the head”). Cognate with Swedish svimma (“to swoon, faint”) and Danish svime (“to swoon, faint”) / Danish besvime (“to swoon, faint”).

Etymology 3

Abbreviation of someone who isn't me.

Usage

Commonly functions as the head of a prepositional phrase following 'go for' or 'have'.

Idioms2 entries

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