Swab

//swɒb// name, noun, verb, slang

name, noun, verb, slang ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    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. 2
    cleaning implement consisting of absorbent material fastened to a handle; for cleaning floors wordnet
  3. 3
    A sample taken with a swab (piece of absorbent material).
  4. 4
    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 wordnet
  5. 5
    A piece of material used for cleaning or sampling other items like musical instruments or guns.
Show 3 more definitions
  1. 6
    A mop, especially on a ship.
  2. 7
    A sailor; a swabby. slang

    "As for that swab, he's good and dead, he is."

  3. 8
    A naval officer's epaulet. slang
Verb
  1. 1
    To use a swab on something, or clean something with a swab. transitive

    "swab the deck of a ship"

  2. 2
    apply (usually a liquid) to a surface wordnet
  3. 3
    wash with a swab or a mop wordnet
Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A surname.

Synonyms

All synonyms
air-dryanhydratebakebaptizebathbathe

Example

More examples

"The doctor has taken a swab from the mucous membrane."

Etymology

Mid 17th century (in the sense 'mop for cleaning the decks'): back-formation from Middle English swabber (“sailor detailed to swab decks”), from Middle Dutch zwabber, from a Germanic base meaning 'splash' or 'sway', also found as nautical German Schwabber and Volga German Schwabber ("scrubber, mop, swab")

Related phrases

cotton swabfire swabswab downswab hitchswab jockey

More for "swab"

SynonymsSentencesPronunciationTranslate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciationBrowse writing guides

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.