Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A splash of water or other liquid hitting a solid surface.
  • noun The sound of such a splash.
  • noun A narrow channel through which tides flow.
  • noun A bar over which waves wash freely.
  • noun Swagger or bluster.
  • noun A swaggering or blustering person.
  • intransitive verb To strike, move, or wash with a splashing sound.
  • intransitive verb To swagger.
  • intransitive verb To splash (a liquid).
  • intransitive verb To splash a liquid against.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In architecture, an oval figure formed by moldings which are placed obliquely to the axis of the work.
  • To spill or splash water about; dash or flow noisily; splash.
  • To fall violently or noisily.
  • To bluster; make a great noise; make a show of valor; vapor; brag.
  • To dash about violently; strike violently.
  • Soft; watery, like fruit too ripe. Also swashy.
  • noun A dashing or splashing of water; splash.
  • noun Liquid filth; wash; hogwash.
  • noun A narrow sound or channel of water lying within a sand-bank, or between that and the shore. Also swash channel, swashway.
  • noun A low coast-belt or tract of country covered with mangroves, and liable to be submerged or inundated at certain seasons.
  • noun A blustering noise; a vaporing.
  • noun A roaring blade; a swaggerer; a swasher.
  • See swash-letters.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun Impulse of water flowing with violence; a dashing or splashing of water.
  • noun A narrow sound or channel of water lying within a sand bank, or between a sand bank and the shore, or a bar over which the sea washes.
  • noun obsolete Liquid filth; wash; hog mash.
  • noun obsolete A blustering noise; a swaggering behavior.
  • noun A swaggering fellow; a swasher.
  • noun (Arch.) An oval figure, whose moldings are oblique to the axis of the work.
  • noun (Mach.) a revolving circular plate, set obliquely on its shaft, and acting as a cam to give a reciprocating motion to a rod in a direction parallel to the shaft.
  • intransitive verb To dash or flow noisily, as water; to splash.
  • intransitive verb obsolete To fall violently or noisily.
  • intransitive verb To bluster; to make a great noise; to vapor or brag.
  • adjective Prov. Eng. Soft, like fruit too ripe; swashy.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The water that washes up on shore after an incoming wave has broken
  • noun typography a long, protruding ornamental line or pen stroke found in some typefaces and styles of calligraphy.
  • noun A narrow sound or channel of water lying within a sand bank, or between a sand bank and the shore, or a bar over which the sea washes.
  • noun obsolete Liquid filth; wash; hog mash.
  • noun obsolete A blustering noise.
  • noun obsolete swaggering behaviour.
  • noun obsolete A swaggering fellow; a swasher.
  • verb intransitive To swagger
  • verb intransitive To splash

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb make violent, noisy movements
  • noun the movement or sound of water
  • verb act in an arrogant, overly self-assured, or conceited manner

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Probably imitative.]

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Examples

Comments

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  • Crones crawl through hurled swash -

    Gandhis, Oxfam ads.

    - Peter Reading, Travelogue, from Nothing for Anyone, 1977

    June 26, 2008

  • "Blast the boat! let it go!" cried Stubb at this instant, as a swashing sea heaved up under his own little craft so that its gunwale violently jammed his hand, as he was passing a lashing.

    - Melville, Moby-Dick, ch. 119

    July 31, 2008

  • facing the window that overlooked the sound, which Elsie had learned the low-country folk called a swash.

    Homer Hickam, Carrying Albert Home (New York: HarperCollins, 2015), p. 219 (setting: South Carolina coast)

    June 29, 2020