swab
pronunciation
How to pronounce swab in British English:
UK [swɒb]
How to pronounce swab in American English:
US [swɑb]
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- Noun:
- 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
- cleaning implement consisting of absorbent material fastened to a handle; for cleaning floors
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- Verb:
- wash with a swab or a mop
- apply (usually a liquid) to a surface
Word Origin
- swab (n.)
- 1650s, "mop made of rope or yarn," from swabber (c. 1600) "mop for cleaning a ship's deck," from Dutch zwabber, akin to West Frisian swabber "mop," from Proto-Germanic *swabb-, perhaps of imitative origin, denoting back-and-forth motion, especially in liquid. Non-nautical meaning "anything used for mopping up" is from 1787; as "cloth or sponge on a handle to cleanse the mouth, etc.," from 1854. Slang meaning "a sailor" first attested 1798, short for swabber "member of a ship's crew assigned to swab decks" (1590s), which by c. 1600 was being used in a broader sense of "one who behaves like a low-ranking sailor, one fit only to use a swab."
- swab (v.)
- 1719, possibly a back-formation from swabber (see swab (n.)). Related: Swabbed; swabbing. Related: Swabification "mopping" (1833).
Example
- 1. The oraquick test uses a mouth swab and gives users results at home in 20 to 40 minutes .
- 2. A significant clue came when institut pasteur virologists tested cerebrospinal , throat , and rectal swab samples from 24 patients .
- 3. Last weekend , throat and / or rectal swab samples from 15 patients tested positive for enterovirus 71 , one of the pathogens that causes hand , foot , and mouth disease .
- 4. In a new study , researchers instructed a group of children , including two sets of identical twins and two sets of fraternal twins , to swab the insides of their cheeks and place the swabs in glass jars .
- 5. Beverly honesty , an outreach worker , seated ms. samuel at a table and asked her to sign some forms , then had her swab her gums with a white plastic stick tipped with filter paper to get a sample of cells lining her mouth .