Swim | Webster's Dictionary (1865)

Swim, v. i.

verbintransitive

v. i. [imp. SWAM; p. p. SWUM; p. pr. & vb. n. SWIMMING.] [A-S. & O. H. Ger. swimman, L. Ger. swimmen, D. zwemmen, H. Ger. schwimmen, Icel. svima, Dan. svømme, Sw. simma.]

Sense 1. To be supported in water or other fluid; not to sink; to float; as, any substance will swim, whose specific gravity is less than that of the fluid in which it is immersed.

Sense 2. To move progressively in water by means of the hands and feet, or of fins.

Leap in with me into this angry flood, And swim to yonder point. Shak.

Sense 3. To be borne along by a current; as, in all states there are men who will swim with the tide of popular opinion.

Sense 4. To glide along with a smooth motion, or with a waving motion. “She with pretty and with swimming gait.” Shak.

A hovering mist came swimming o’er his sight. Dryden.

Sense 5. To be dizzy or vertiginous; to have a waving motion of the head, or a sensation of that kind, or a reeling of the body; as, the head swims.

Sense 6. To be overflowed or drenched; as, the earth swims in rain.

Sudden the ditches swell, the meadows swim. Thomson.

Sense 7. To overflow; to abound; to have abundance.

They now swim in joy. Milton.

Swĭm, v. t.

verbtransitive

v. t. 1. To pass or move over, or on, by swimming; as, to swim a stream.

Sometimes he thought to swim the stormy main. Dryden.

Sense 2. To immerse in water that the lighter parts may swim; as, to swim wheat for seed.

Sense 3. To cause or compel to swim; to make to float; as, to swim a horse across a river.

Swim, n.

noun

Swim, n. 1. The act of swimming; a gliding motion, like that of one swimming. 2. The time or distance one swims, or can swim. 3. The bladder of a fish, by which it is said to be supported in water; the sound. [In this sense, written also, but improperly, swimm.]