swift
adjectiveadverbnouncommon in dialogue
- //swɪft//
Fast; quick; rapid.
adjective
- 1
Fast; quick; rapid.
swift action
swift response
swift recovery
The river’s swift current carried the boat downstream.
- 2
Capable of moving at high speeds.
- 3
informalQuick-thinking; bright.
That's what limos do — advertise, and he should have known that. But, as I told you before, officer, he's not too swift.
Etymology
From Middle English swift, from Old English swift (“swift; quick”), from Proto-Germanic *swiftaz (“swift; quick”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)weyp- (“to twist; wind around”). Cognate with Icelandic svipta (“to pull quickly”), Old English swīfan (“to revolve, sweep, wend, intervene”). More at swivel.
adverb
- 1
obsoleteSwiftly.
Light boats sail swift, though greater hulks draw deep.
Ply swift and strong the oar.
Let no thing escape; / Catch these for me before we all are flown, / Torn, violate, by time’s triumphal rape: / Run swift into the wheeling day; the night / Takes all of us.
noun
- 1
A small plain-colored bird of the family Apodidae that resembles a swallow and is noted for its rapid flight.
- 2
Any of certain lizards of the genus Sceloporus.
As a guide to start your collection we'd suggest either iguanas, tejus, swifts, basilisks, horned toads or alligator lizards.
- 3
A moth of the family Hepialidae, swift moth, ghost moth.
Earless ghost swift moths become “invisible” to echolocating bats by forming mating clusters close (less than half a meter) above vegetation and effectively blending into the clutter of echoes that the bat receives from the leaves and stems around them.
- 4
Any of various fast-flying hesperiid butterflies.
- 5
A light, collapsible reel used to hold a hank of yarn in order to wind off skeins or balls.
- 6
The main cylinder of a carding-machine.
- 7
obsoleteThe current of a stream.
Forms
- plural
- swifts
- comparative
- swifter, more swift
- superlative
- swiftest, most swift