swab
verb/swɒb/
/swɑːb/
Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they swab | /swɒb/ /swɑːb/ |
| he / she / it swabs | /swɒbz/ /swɑːbz/ |
| past simple swabbed | /swɒbd/ /swɑːbd/ |
| past participle swabbed | /swɒbd/ /swɑːbd/ |
| -ing form swabbing | /ˈswɒbɪŋ/ /ˈswɑːbɪŋ/ |
- swab something to clean or remove liquid from a wound, etc., using a swabTopics Healthcarec2
- swab something (down) to clean or wash a floor, surface, etc. using water and a cloth, etc.
- I swabbed down the table using disinfectant.
- Swab each nail free of grease before applying nail polish.
Word Originmid 17th cent. (in the sense ‘mop for cleaning the decks’): back-formation from swabber ‘sailor detailed to swab decks’, from early modern Dutch zwabber, from a Germanic base meaning ‘splash’ or ‘sway’.
Check pronunciation:
swab