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switches

 [swich]   Origin

switch

   [swich]
noun
1.
a slender, flexible shoot, rod, etc., used especially 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.
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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.
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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 followed by off or on): I switched on a light.
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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.
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Switches is always a great word to know.
So is quincunx. Does it mean:
a chattering or flighty, light-headed person.
an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.
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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.
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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.
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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; compare Low German (Hanoverian) schwutsche long, thin stick

Related forms
switch·a·ble, adjective
switch·er, noun
switch·like, adjective
un·switch·a·ble, adjective
un·switched, adjective

Synonyms
7. change, shift, alternation, substitution.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source Link To switches
Etymonline
Word Origin & History

switch
c.1611, "to strike with a switch," from switch (n.). The meaning "turn off or on" is first recorded 1853, of trains on tracks, 1881 of electricity, 1932 of radio or (later) television. Sense of "shift, divert" is from 1860. Meaning "to change one thing for another" is recorded
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from 1919. Switch-hitter is 1930s in baseball slang, 1956 in the sense of "bisexual person." Switchback in ref. to zig-zag railways is recorded from 1863.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source
Slang Dictionary

switch definition


  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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