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Switched

 - 5 dictionary results

switch

  [swich] ,
Use Switched in a Sentence
–noun
1. a slender, flexible shoot, rod, etc., used esp. in whipping or disciplining.
2. an act of whipping or beating with or as with such an object; a stroke, lash, or whisking movement.
3. a slender growing shoot, as of a plant.
4. a hairpiece consisting of a bunch or tress of long hair or some substitute, fastened together at one end and worn by women to supplement their own hair.
5. Electricity. a device for turning on or off or directing an electric current or for making or breaking a circuit.
6. Railroads. a track structure for diverting moving trains or rolling stock from one track to another, commonly consisting of a pair of movable rails.
7. a turning, shifting, or changing: a switch of votes to another candidate.
8. Bridge. a change to a suit other than the one played or bid previously.
9. Basketball. a maneuver in which two teammates on defense shift assignments so that each guards the opponent usually guarded by the other.
10. a tuft of hair at the end of the tail of some animals, as of the cow or lion.
–verb (used with object)
11. to whip or beat with a switch or the like; lash: He switched the boy with a cane.
12. to move, swing, or whisk (a cane, a fishing line, etc.) with a swift, lashing stroke.
13. to shift or exchange: The two girls switched their lunch boxes.
14. to turn, shift, or divert: to switch conversation from a painful subject.
15. Electricity. to connect, disconnect, or redirect (an electric circuit or the device it serves) by operating a switch (often fol. by off or on): I switched on a light.
16. Railroads.
a. to move or transfer (a train, car, etc.) from one set of tracks to another.
b. to drop or add (cars) or to make up (a train).
17. Movies, Television. to shift rapidly from one camera to another in order to change camera angles or shots.
–verb (used without object)
18. to strike with or as with a switch.
19. to change direction or course; turn, shift, or change.
20. to exchange or replace something with another: He used to smoke this brand of cigarettes, but he switched.
21. to move or sway back and forth, as a cat's tail.
22. to be shifted, turned, etc., by means of a switch.
23. Basketball. to execute a switch.
24. Bridge. to lead a card of a suit different from the suit just led by oneself or one's partner.
—Idiom
25. asleep at the switch, Informal. failing to perform one's duty, missing an opportunity, etc., because of negligence or inattention: He lost the contract because he was asleep at the switch.
Origin:
1585–95; earlier swits, switz slender riding whip, flexible stick; cf. LG (Hanoverian) schwutsche long, thin stick

Related forms:
switch⋅a⋅ble, adjective
switcher, noun
switchlike, adjective

Synonyms:
7. change, shift, alternation, substitution.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To Switched
switch   (swĭch)   
n.  

  1. A slender flexible rod, stick, or twig, especially one used for whipping.

  2. The bushy tip of the tail of certain animals: a cow's switch.

  3. A thick strand of real or synthetic hair used as part of a coiffure.

  4. A flailing or lashing, as with a slender rod.

  5. A device used to break or open an electric circuit or to divert current from one conductor to another.

  6. A device consisting of two sections of railroad track and accompanying apparatus used to transfer rolling stock from one track to another.

    1. The act or process of operating a switching device.

    2. The result achieved by such an act.

  8. An exchange or a swap, especially one done secretly.

  9. A transference or shift, as of opinion or attention.

v.   switched, switch·ing, switch·es

v.   tr.

  1. Chiefly Southern U.S. To whip with or as if with a switch, especially in punishing a child.

  2. To jerk or swish abruptly or sharply: a cat switching its tail.

  3. To shift, transfer, or divert: switched the conversation to a lighter subject.

  4. To exchange: asked her brother to switch seats with her.

  5. To connect, disconnect, or divert (an electric current) by operating a switch.

  6. To cause (an electric current or appliance) to begin or cease operation: switched the lights on and off.

  7. Informal To produce as if by operating a control. Often used with on: switched on the charm.

  8. To move (rolling stock) from one track to another; shunt.

v.   intr.

  1. To make or undergo a shift or an exchange: The office has switched to shorter summer hours.

  2. To swish sharply from side to side.

Phrasal Verb(s):
switch off Informal To stop paying attention; lose interest.

[Probably of Low German or Flemish origin.]
switch'a·ble adj., switch'er n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Slang Dictionary
switch

  1. n.
    a switchblade knife. (The folding pocket knife springs open when a button is pushed.) : They found a switch in his pocket when they searched him.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Word Origin & History

switch  (n.)
1592, "slender riding whip," probably from a Flemish or Low German word akin to Hanoverian swutsche, a variant of Low Ger. zwukse "long thin stick, switch," from Gmc. base *swih- (cf. O.H.G. zwec "wooden peg," Ger. Zweck "aim, design," originally "peg as a target," Zwick "wooden peg"), perhaps connected with PIE base *swei- "to swing, bend, to turn." The meaning "device for changing the direction of something or making or breaking a connection" is first recorded 1797. "The peg sense suits the mech(anical) applications" [Weekley], and these senses may be a direct borrowing from those senses in Continantal Gmc. languages rather than a continuation of the "pliant wand" sense. The meaning "a change, a reversal, an exchange, a substitution" is first recorded 1920. Switchblade dates from 1932, from the "switch" which is pressed to spring the knife open. Switchboard first attested 1884.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Financial Dictionary

switch

  1. See swap.

  2. To move funds out of one mutual fund and into another mutual fund. See also telephone switching.


Wall Street Words: An A to Z Guide to Investment Terms by David L. Scott.
Copyright © 2003. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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