Definitions for swab
swɒbswab

Princeton's WordNetRate this definition:5.0 / 1 vote

1. swabnoun

   implement consisting of a small piece of cotton that is used to apply medication or cleanse a wound or obtain a specimen of a secretion

2. swab, swob, mopverb

   cleaning implement consisting of absorbent material fastened to a handle; for cleaning floors

3. swab, swobverb

   wash with a swab or a mop

   "swab the ship's decks"

4. dab, swab, swobverb

   apply (usually a liquid) to a surface

   "dab the wall with paint"

WiktionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. swabnoun

   a small piece of soft, absorbent material, such as gauze, used to clean wounds, apply medicine, or take samples of body fluids. Often attached to a stick or wire to aid access.

2. swabnoun

   A sample taken with a swab (1).

3. swabnoun

   A piece of material used for cleaning or sampling other items like musical instruments or guns.

4. swabnoun

   A mop, especially on a ship.

5. swabnoun

   A sailor; see swabby.

6. swabverb

   To use a swab on something, or clean something with a swab

Samuel Johnson's DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. SWABnoun

   A kind of mop to clean floors.

   Etymology: swabb, Swedish.

2. To Swabverb

   To clean with a mop. It is now used chiefly at sea.

   Etymology: swebban , Saxon.

   He made him swab the deck. George Shelvocke, Voyage.

ChatGPTRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. swab

   A swab is a small piece of absorbent material attached to a stick or wire, which is used for cleaning a surface or collecting a sample from it. It is commonly used in medicine for taking samples of bodily fluids or contagions, or in various other applications like cleaning precise instruments. It can also refer to the action of using this tool.

Webster DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Swabnoun

   to clean with a mop or swab; to wipe when very wet, as after washing; as, to swab the desk of a ship

2. Swabnoun

   a kind of mop for cleaning floors, the desks of vessels, etc., esp. one made of rope-yarns or threads

3. Swabnoun

   a bit of sponge, cloth, or the like, fastened to a handle, for cleansing the mouth of a sick person, applying medicaments to deep-seated parts, etc

4. Swabnoun

   an epaulet

5. Swabnoun

   a cod, or pod, as of beans or pease

6. Swabnoun

   a sponge, or other suitable substance, attached to a long rod or handle, for cleaning the bore of a firearm

7. Etymology: [Written also swob.]

Chambers 20th Century DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Swab

   swob, n. a mop for cleaning or drying floors or decks, or for cleaning out the bore of a cannon: a bit of sponge, &c., for cleansing the mouth of a sick person: (slang) a naval officer's epaulet: a lubber or clumsy fellow in sailor's slang.—v.t. to clean or dry with a swab:—pr.p. swab′bing; pa.t. and pa.p. swabbed.—n. Swab′ber, one who uses a swab: a baker's implement for cleaning ovens. [Dut. zwabber, a swabber, zwabberen, to swab; Ger. schwabber.]

The New Hacker's DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. swab

   [From the mnemonic for the PDP-11 ‘SWAp Byte’ instruction, as immortalized in the dd(1) option conv=swab (see dd)] 1. vt. To solve the NUXI problem by swapping bytes in a file 2. n. The program in V7 Unix used to perform this action, or anything functionally equivalent to it. See also big-endian, little-endian, middle-endian, bytesexual.

Dictionary of Nautical TermsRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. swab

   A sort of long mop, formed of rope-yarns of old junk, used for cleaning and drying the decks and cabins of a ship. Also, a sobriquet for a sot. Also, for an epaulette.--Hand-swab. A small swab for wiping dry the stern-sheets of a boat, washing plates and dishes, &c.

Suggested ResourcesRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. SWAB

   What does SWAB stand for? -- Explore the various meanings for the SWAB acronym on the Abbreviations.com website.

Surnames Frequency by Census RecordsRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. SWAB

   According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Swab is ranked #33196 in terms of the most common surnames in America.
   
   The Swab surname appeared 689 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 would have the surname Swab.
   
   94.4% or 651 total occurrences were White.
   1.8% or 13 total occurrences were American Indian or Alaskan Native.
   1.6% or 11 total occurrences were of two or more races.
   1.4% or 10 total occurrences were of Hispanic origin.

Matched Categories

1. • Implement
   • Mop

How to pronounce swab?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say swab in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of swab in Chaldean Numerology is: 3

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of swab in Pythagorean Numerology is: 9

Examples of swab in a Sentence

1. Andrew Brooks:

   It means we no longer have to put health care professionals at risk for infection by performing nasopharyngeal or oropharyngeal collections, we can preserve precious personal protective equipment for use in patient care instead of testing. We can significantly increase the number of people tested each and every day as self-collection of saliva is more quick and scalable than swab collections.

2. Crystal Alvarez:

   We are currently doing pool testing, which we do it once a week, with whatever students parents gave consent and nurses drop off the supplies, the students swab themselves, and then that is sent to the lab, and if one of the PCR tests ends up positive, then we rescreen those students with a rapid test.

3. Andrew Brooks:

   We can preserve precious personal protective equipment for use in patient care instead of testing. We can significantly increase the number of people tested each and every day as self-collection of saliva is more quick and scalable than swab collections, all of this combined will have a tremendous impact on testing in New Jersey and across United States.

4. Shawn Beitel:

   We are looking at COVID-19 in high-risk occupational groups, so these are first responders healthcare workers, and essential frontline workers here in Arizona. We do weekly testing for these individuals, where we're providing them specimens to do nasal swab samples, and this is what students from our college help participate in creating these kits to provide to them. We want to know how effective the vaccines are, how long the immune system is able to help protect someone against COVID-19 along with looking at how the different variants, play a role with the vaccines as well.

5. Silvana Tridico:

   You could actually swab the victim's genital area and the suspect's genital area and see if the bacteria's transferred or not.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

References

1. ^ Princeton's WordNet
   http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=swab
2. ^ Wiktionary
   https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Swab
3. ^ Samuel Johnson's Dictionary
   https://johnsonsdictionaryonline.com/views/search.php?term=swab
4. ^ ChatGPT
   https://chat.openai.com
5. ^ Webster Dictionary
   https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/swab
6. ^ Chambers 20th Century Dictionary
   https://www.gutenberg.org/files/37683/37683-h/37683-h.htm#:~:text=swab
7. ^ The New Hacker's Dictionary
   https://www.gutenberg.org/files/3008/3008-h/3008-h.htm#Swab
8. ^ Dictionary of Nautical Terms
   https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/26000/pg26000-images.html#:~:text=swab
9. ^ Surnames Frequency by Census Records
   https://www.census.gov/topics/population/genealogy/data/2010_surnames.html