English

Adjective

swish ‎(comparative swisher or more swish, superlative swishest or most swish)

1. (Britain, colloquial) sophisticated; fashionable; smooth.

   This restaurant looks very swish — it even has linen tablecloths.

2. Attractive, stylish
   • 2014, Paul Doyle, "Southampton hammer eight past hapless Sunderland in barmy encounter", The Guardian, 18 October 2014:

     The Saints, who started the day third in the table, went marching on thanks to their own swish play and some staggering defending by the visitors.

3. effeminate.

Translations

Noun

swish ‎(plural swishes)

1. A short rustling, hissing or whistling sound, often made by friction.
2. A hissing, sweeping movement through the air, as of an animal's tail.
3. A sound of liquid flowing inside a container.
   • 1898, J. Meade Falkner, Moonfleet Chapter 4

     There were four or five men in the vault already, and I could hear more coming down the passage, and guessed from their heavy footsteps that they were carrying burdens. There was a sound, too, of dumping kegs down on the ground, with a swish of liquor inside them, and then the noise of casks being moved.

4. A twig or bundle of twigs, used for administering beatings; a switch
5. (basketball) A successful basketball shot that does not touch the rim or backboard.
6. An effeminate male homosexual.

Related terms

• swoosh
• whoosh

Verb

swish ‎(third-person singular simple present swishes, present participle swishing, simple past and past participle swished)

1. To make a rustling sound while moving.

   The cane swishes.

2. (transitive) To flourish with a swishing sound.

   to swish a cane back and forth

   • Samuel Taylor Coleridge

     Sir Nicholas grinn'd and swish'd his tail
     With joy and admiration,
     For he thought of his daughter Victory,
     And her darling child Taxation.

3. (transitive, slang, dated) To flog; to lash.
   • 1906, Oscar Wilde, The Canterville Ghost

     After Virginia came the twins, who were usually called "the Star and Stripes", as they were always getting swished.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Thackeray to this entry?)

4. (basketball) To make a successful basketball shot that does not touch the rim or backboard.
5. (gay slang) To mince or otherwise to behave in an effeminate manner.

   I shall not swish; I'll merely act limp-wristed.

Translations