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swatch

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swatch

[swoch] ,
–noun
1. a sample of cloth or other material.
2. a sample, patch, or characteristic specimen of anything.

Origin:
1505–15; akin to switch
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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swatch   (swŏch)   
n.  
  1. A sample strip cut from a piece of material.

  2. A representative portion; a sample: quoted swatches of the speech in his article.

  3. A strip or swath of land: "I . . . drove through this hilly swatch of field and forest that wraps around the east and north of town" (Jean Anderson).


[Origin unknown.]
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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Word Origin & History

swatch 
1512, "the countercheck of a tally" (Northumberland dialect), later "a tally attached to cloth sent to be dyed" (1612, in Yorkshire), of unknown origin. Meaning "a sample piece of cloth" is from 1647.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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