Also 6 swym(me, 7 swimme, 8 Sc. soom. [f. SWIM v.]
† 1. The clear part of a liquid which floats above the sediment: = SUBLATION 1, SUBLIMATION 3.
1547. Recorde, Judic. Ur., 16 b. The sedyment or grounde, the sublacion or swymme, and the cloude.
1625. Hart, Anat. Ur., I. iii. 34. The urine in this disease was … variable and inconstant in the swimme and sublimation.
1676. Jas. Cooke, Marrow Chirurg., Inst., III. iii. 39. The Sediment possesses the bottom; the Swim the middle, the Cloud at top.
2. A smooth gliding movement of the body. Also fig.
1599. B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Rev., II. iv. Mer. A happy commendation, to dance out of measure. Mor. Save only you wanted the swim i’ the turne.
1654. R. Whitlock, Ζωοτομια, 505. An even unruffled swimme of Affaires, and Fortunes.
1681. Otway, Soldier’s Fort., II. i. The modish swim of your body.
1703. Steele, Tender Husb., III. i. Your Arms do but hang on, and you move perfectly upon Joints. Not with a Swim of the whole Person—.
1760–72. H. Brooke, Fool of Qual. (1809), IV. 27. That easy swim of movement … which … distinguishes the ladies of this country.
† 3. The swimming-bladder or sound of a fish.
a. 1649. Winthrop, New Eng. (1825), I. 272. Distinct bodies in the form of a globe, not much unlike the swims of some fish.
1684. R. Waller, Nat. Exper., 67. The greater part of the Air in the bladder, by forcing, or taring the Swim, gets out through some invisible Passages.
1787. Best, Angling (ed. 2), 1. An air bladder, or swim, to enable them to rise or sink to any height or depth of water, at pleasure.
1833. Penny Cycl., I. 242/1. The functions of the air-bladder, or, as they [sc. fishermen] most commonly call it, the swim.
4. A swimming motion; colloq. or dial. a swimming or dizzy sensation. (Cf. SWIME)
1817. Keats, ‘I stood tip-toe,’ 114. The moon lifting her silver rim Above a cloud, and with a gradual swim Coming into the blue with all her light. Ibid. (1818), Endym., I. 571. Visions … The which became more strange, and strange, and dim, And then were gulph’d in a tumultuous swim. And then I fell asleep.
1829. E. Elliott, Village Patriarch, III. iv. The laws allow His [sc. the coach-horse’s] ever-batter’d hoof, and anguish’d limb, Till death-struck, flash his brain with dizzy swim.
1886. Elworthy, W. Somerset Word-bk., Swim … sb. State of giddiness or faintness. My ’ead’s all of a swim.
5. An act of swimming.
1805. Hayley, Ballads, I. xv. ’Twas Edward’s pleasure, after toil, To take a fearless swim.
1828. Whewell, in Life (1881), 126. A piece of water … where, I believe,… I should find water-fowl of various kinds, tame and wild, taking their morning swim.
1890. ‘R. Boldrewood,’ Col. Reformer, xvii. (1891), 199. Parklands … had … a swim with Brandon and Mr. Neuchamp in the river.
1895. Meredith, Amazing Marr., i. The tale of her swim across the Shannon river and back.
b. A piece of water to be crossed by swimming. local.
1880. Miss Bird, Japan, II. 130. The Aino guide took to the water without giving us any notice that its broad eddying flood was a swim, and not a ford.
1895. Queenslander, 7 Dec., 1061. The Diamantina River is a swim at Elderslie.
6. A part of a river or other piece of water much frequented by fish, or in which an angler fishes.
1828. Sporting Mag., XXII. 25. It is an excellent part of the stream, and has many good swims and deep holes.
1840. Blaine, Encycl. Rur. Sports, VIII. ix. § 3427. It is a method [of catching barbel] principally applied to the more quiet swims.
1864. Hibberd, in Intell. Observer, V. 17. Angling for grayling beside a poor swim on the banks of the Wye, the Dove, or the Ribble.
1867. F. Francis, Bk. Angling, i. (1880), 38. Roach and dace for the most part bite in the same swims.
b. fig. phr. In the swim with: in the same company with, in league with.
1885. Graphic, 3 Jan., 11/2. A combination of leading jockeys and others ‘in the swim’ with them.
1889. R. Bridges, Growth of Love, lxiii. And since I see Myself in swim with such good company.
7. fig. The current of affairs or events, esp. the popular current in business, fashion, or opinion; chiefly in phr. in (out of) the swim.
1869. Macm. Mag., Nov., 70/2. A man is said to be ‘in the swim’ when any piece of good fortune has happened, or seems likely to happen, to him … The metaphor is piscatorial.
1874. Siliad, II. 30. ‘He’s in the swim,’ another swift replies; ‘Hot wather, thin, he loiks,’ Obroian cries.
1879. McCarthy, Own Times, xxvi. II. 264. Palmerston is to all appearance what would be vulgarly called ‘out of the swim.’
1884. Graphic, 29 Nov., 562/3. The second category of companies is usually so managed that the originators do pretty well out of it whether those of the shareholders who are not ‘in the swim’ gain a profit or lose their Capital.
b. with qualifying words.
1884. H. P. Spofford, in Harper’s Mag., Nov., 891/1. She is in the swim of the world, turning night into day.
1888. Gunter, Mr. Potter, xiv. 167. Who knows nearly everybody in the swim of European society.
1891. Lucy B. Walford, Mischief of Monica, xxix. They have got into the Schofield swim, and in the Schofield swim they must remain.
8. An enterprise, scheme, ‘game.’ colloq. or slang.
1860. Sala, Baddington Peerage, I. vii. 138. Perhaps, though, I’d better work with Jack; I don’t like being alone in a swim.
1869. ‘Wat. Bradwood’ The O. V. H. (1870), 211. I suppose your master aint the sort to stand in for a swim is he?
1876. ‘Annie Thomas,’ Blotted Out, xvi. 147. You should have taken Claire into your confidence respecting this swim we’re in about getting the money from your father.
9. (See quot. 1867.)
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Swims, the flat extremities of east-country barges.
1883. Pall Mall G., 8 Dec., 4/1. When … the steersman has taken his place in the front swim, and the horse has been attached by a long rope, the vessel is ready to start.
