Also 8 swabb. [f. SWAB v.1 With sense 1 cf. Norw., Sw. svabb mop; with sense 2, svabb, svabba dirty person.]
1. A mop made of rope-yarn, etc., used for cleaning and drying the deck, etc., on board ship.
1659. Torriano, Strofinaccio..., a swab in a ship, a clout-mop in a boat.
1769. Falconer, Dict. Marine (1780).
1797. S. James, Narr. Voy. Arabia, 230. We … choaked the pumps up with wringing swabs.
1820. W. Scoresby, Acc. Arctic Reg., II. 233. A small broom and a ‘swab.’
1893. M. Pemberton, Iron Pirate, 182. Others of the crew brought buckets and swabs unbidden, and cleansed the place.
b. Anything used for mopping up; an absorbent mass of rag, cotton-wool, or the like, used for cleansing; any mass or bundle of stuff that takes up moisture, or that, being soaked, is applied to a surface.
Also Med. a specimen of a morbid secretion, etc., taken with a swab for bacteriological examination.
1787. M. Cutler, in Life, etc. (1888), I. 243. The hostler is at the door, ready to take your horse,… rubs him down, then washes him with a swab and wipes him dry.
1828. Sporting Mag., XXII. 354. The swab, which, when well saturated with water, is tied round the outside of the coronets.
1842. Motley, Corr. (1889), I. iv. 117. The archbishop with a little mop or swab twirling water on all the dignitaries.
1854. Poultry Chron., I. 369/1. If they rattle badly in the throat, make a swab by tying a little tow on a small stick, and swab their throats out with the same mixture.
1883. Hasluck, Model Engin. Handybk. (1900), 139. The mixture can be applied with a small brush, or a swab tied to the end of a stick.
1903. [see SWAG v.1 3].
1907. M. H. Gordon, Abel’s Labor. Handbk. Bacteriol., 165. A plug of sterile wool fixed to a wooden rod or wire (i.e a ‘swab’).
1908. Animal Managem., 339. Keep cold swabs over the hoofs.
c. A cylindrical brush or cleaner for cleaning out the bore of a firearm; a soft brush for wetting the mold in founding.
1874. trans. V. Hugo’s Ninety-Three, III. I. iii. II. 174. He took the swab and rammer himself, loaded the piece, sighted it, and fired.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., 2465/2. Swab … is used … to wet the parting edge before drawing the pattern, and also to moisten parts of the mold requiring repairs.
d. A naval officer’s epaulette. slang.
1798. Sporting Mag., XII. 35. He makes use of no swabs (gold shoulder knots).
1833. M. Scott, Tom Cringle, xv. If half a dozen skippers … were to evaporate during the approaching hot months he may have some small chance of tother Swab.
1834. Marryat, P. Simple, xli. I had shipped the swab…. I’m lieutenant of the Rattlesnake.
1849. Cupples, Green Hand, i. A fat fellow with red breeches and yaller swabs on his shoulders, like a captain of marines.
e. A piece of stuff that hangs loose, trails, etc.
1862. Thornbury, Turner, II. 322. The swab of a handkerchief hanging from the side-pocket of his tail-coat.
1862. Trollope, N. America, I. 300. At every hundred yards some unhappy man treads upon the silken swab which she trails behind her.
2. † a. = SWABBER1 1. b. A term of abuse or (now often mild) contempt: cf. SWABBER1 2.
1687. Taubman, London’s Tri., 7. Green-men, Swabs, Satyrs, and Attendants innumerable.
1706. E. Ward, Wooden World Diss. (1708), 64. Provided always, that the Swab consign him over his Wages for his Labour.
1710. C. Shadwell, Fair Quaker Deal, I. i. 6. If the Government did but know what a Swabb thou art.
1748. Smollett, Rod. Rand. (1812), I. 11. None of your jaw, you swab.
1798. Lady Hamilton, Lett. to Nelson, 8 Sept. I would have been rather an English powder-monkey, or a swab in that great victory than an emperor out of it.
1816. Scott, Lett., in Lockhart (1837), IV. i. 15. I have seen the great swab, who is supple as a glove.
1835. Marryat, Jacob Faithful, xx. He said t’other day I was a drunken old swab.
1860. All Year Round, No. 66. 384. Look there, you swabs! Don’t you see that second jib towing overboard?
1887. Besant, The World Went, xxix. Luke was a grass comber and a land swab.
1899. Somerville & Ross, Irish R. M., 240. The men ’re rather a lot of swabs, but they know the coast.
1907. Quiller-Couch, Poison Island, vii. 60. The Mayor of Falmouth was a well-meaning old swab.
3. attrib.: swab-hitch sb., Naut. (see quot.); hence swab-hitch v., to secure with a swab-hitch; swab-man, a naval officer wearing epaulettes; swab-pot Founding, ‘an iron vessel containing water and the founder’s swab’ (Knight, Dict. Mech., 1875); swab-rope Naut., swab-stick (see quots.); swab-washer, -wringer Naut., one who washes or wrings out swabs.
1883. Man. Seamanship for Boys, 83. A *swab-hitch … is … used for bending a rope’s end to swabs when washing them overboard. Ibid., 190. Swab-hitch it over the ring and seize the end back.
1836. E. Howard, R. Reefer, I. xl. 198. A little *swab man … jumped on the quarter-deck.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., *Swab-rope, a line bent to the eye of a swab for dipping it overboard in washing it.
1839. Ure, Dict. Arts, 836. If the ground be very wet, and the hole gets full of mud, it is cleaned out by a stick bent at the end into a fibrous brush, called a *swab-stick.
1890. Billings, Nat. Med. Dict., Swab-stick, a rod of wood wrapped at one end with cotton, used in making applications to the uterus or vagina.
1836. E. Howard, R. Reefer, I. xxvii. 131. Present that piece of paper when you get on board to the head *swabwasher.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., s.v., The principal swab-washer, or captain of the head, in large ships.
1821. Blackw. Mag., X. 426. A waister, a term which is equally applicable to sweepers, *swab-wringers,… and drudges of all descriptions.
4. as adj. Lubberly.
1914. Blackw. Mag., Nov., 648/2. About the swabbest lot that ever left port.
