[f. SWIM v. + -ING1.] The action of the verb SWIM.
1. The action of moving along in the water by natural means of progression.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. XII. 166. He þat neuere ne dyued ne nouȝt can of swymmynge.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVIII. xxix. [xxx.] (Bodl. MS.), lf. 263 b/1. In swymmynge þe strenger [harts] swymmeþ bifore.
a. 1513. Fabyan, Chron., VII. ccxxxviii. (1811), 277. Swymynge of fysshes, & fleynge of fowlys.
1533. Bellenden, Livy, IV. xiv. (S.T.S.), II. 99. Vthiris þat war crafty in swomyng war sa sare woundit … þat þai drownit in þe streme.
1638. Rawley, trans. Bacon’s Life & Death (1650), 40. Exercise within cold water, as swimming, is very good.
1683. J. Reid, Scots Gard’ner (1907), 90. The larger your pondes or rivers be,… and the more moved by horse, geese and ducks, in their sweeming, the sweeter it will be.
1771. Smollett, Humphry Cl., Lett. to Sir W. Phillips, 1 July. I love swimming as an exercise, and can enjoy it at all times of the tide.
1835. Partington’s Brit. Cycl. Arts & Sci., II. 803/2. In ordinary easy swimming, the hands are not used to propel, but merely to assist in keeping on the surface.
2. The action of moving or floating on the surface of the water, as a ship.
1719. De Foe, Crusoe, II. (Globe), 405. The Fire so burn’d the upper Part, that it soon made them unfit for swimming in the Sea as Boats.
1827. Faraday, Chem. Manip., ii. (1842), 62. When surrounded by the fluid, its density was in some degree judged of by the sinking or swimming of the included bulb.
b. concr. A thing that floats upon the surface.
1833. Loudon, Encycl. Archit., § 1262. The swimmings, or light grains that are skimmed off in the cistern.
† 3. A watered pattern in a fabric. Obs. rare.
1611. Florio, Nuóta, a waue, a swimming as in damaske or chamblet.
4. A state of dizziness or giddiness; vertigo.
Usually swimming of the head or brain.
1530. Palsgr., 278/2. Swymyng in the hed, bestournement.
1556. Withals, Dict. (1568), 72 b/1. Swimming in the heade, vertigo.
1581. Mulcaster, Positions, xxi. (1887), 90. It is commended for a remedie against the swiming of the head.
1601. Holland, Pliny, XXI. xxx. II. 111. It is good for the swimming and dizzinesse of the braine.
1684. W. Russell, Phys. Treatise, 135. A Man of middle Age having … a Swimming in his Head.
1770. Foote, Lame Lover, II. A faintness, a kind of swimming.
1871. L. Stephen, Playgr. Eur. (1894), xiii. 305. I could not look over a precipice without a swimming in the head.
fig. 1649. Milton, Eikon., xxviii. 240. Upon a sudden qualm and swimming of thir conscience.
5. An appearance as of something floating or wavering before the eyes.
1760–73. H. Brooke, Fool of Qual. (1809), II. 95. My knees trembled…; a swimming came before my eyes.
1771. Smollett, Humphry Cl., Lett. to Lewis, 8 May. The continual swimming of those phantoms before my eyes, gave me a swimming of the head.
1833. L. Ritchie, Wand. by Loire, 234. He was affected by a reeling of the brain and a swimming of the eyes.
6. attrib. and Comb., as swimming-apparatus, -belt, -fin, -foot, -girdle, -leg, -organ, -paddle, -paw, -plate, -web; swimming-bath, -place, -pond, -school; swimming-bell, a bell-shaped part or organ, as a nectocalyx, by which an animal propels itself through the water; swimming-bladder, (a) the air-bladder of a fish, which enables it to keep its balance in swimming; (b) an inflated bladder to assist a person in swimming; swimming-tub Calico-printing etc., a tub of colors, with a floating layer of fabric, on which a block is laid to color its surface.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., *Swimming-apparatus..., a float or dress to sustain a person in the water.
1900. B. D. Jackson, Gloss. Bot. Terms, Swimming apparatus, in Azolla, three apical episporic spongy masses of tissue, surrounding a central conical body with an array of fine filaments (Campbell).
1742. Daily Advertiser, 28 May (N. & Q., 10th Ser. X. 89). The Pleasure or *Swimming Bath, which is more than forty-three Feet in length.
1892. H. Lane, Differ. Rheum. Dis. (ed. 2), 103. The ladies’ swimming bath at the New Royal Baths.
1861. J. R. Greene, Man. Anim. Kingd., Cœlent., 27. The ‘nectocalyces,’ or ‘swimming bells,’ with which the hydrosoma may be provided.
1856. ‘Stonehenge,’ Brit. Sports, 512/1. Various kinds of Apparatus have been recommended for sustaining the body, as cork-jackets, *swimming-belts, bladders, &c.
1713. Derham, Phys. Theol., 10, note. If the *Swimming-Bladder of any Fish be pricked or broken, such a Fish sinks presently to the bottom.
1843. Holtzapffel, Turning, I. 155. Isinglass … is prepared from the sound or swimming-bladder of the sturgeon.
1858. O. W. Holmes, Aut. Breakf.-t., ii. (1883), 32. Don’t puncture their swimming-bladders; don’t break the ends of their brittle and unstable reputations.
1861. P. P. Carpenter, in Rep. Smithsonian Inst., 1860, 240. The animal has a broad *swimming fin, armed with an operculum. Ibid., 234. Aclesia is like Aplysia, without shell or *swimming flaps.
1816. Kirby & Sp., Entomol., xxii. (1818), II. 303. The envelope of the intermediate tarsi … is fringed on one side with hairs, to enable the insects to use them as *swimming feet.
1626. Bacon, New Atl., 42. Wee haue Shipps and Boates for Going under Water, and Brooking of Seas; Also *Swimming-Girdles and Supporters.
1700. T. Brown, Amusem. Ser. & Com., 111. Under that Bulk was a Projector clicking off his Swimming Girdles, to keep up Merchants Credits from sinking.
1835. Partington’s Brit. Cycl. Arts & Sci., II. 803/2. The swimming girdle, about five inches wide, is placed round the pupil’s breast.
1871. Darwin, Desc. Man, II. ix. I. 328. The males … alone are furnished with perfect, *swimming-legs.
1861. J. R. Greene, Man. Anim. Kingd., Cœlent., 115. The endodermal lining of the polypite passes into the central cavity of the *swimming-organ.
1895. Oracle Encycl., I. 567/2. The forelimbs, represented by *swimming-paddles, are of small size.
1808. J. Fleming, in Mem. Wernerian Nat. Hist. Soc. (1811), I. 134. There were two *swimming-paws (if I may be allowed the expression), corresponding to the pectoral fins in fishes, situated in the forepart of the body [of the narwal] towards the under-side.
1840. Cuvier’s Anim. Kingd., 417. The lateral *swimming-pieces at the extremity of the tail … are thrown back at its sides…. The six or four following legs terminate in a *swimming-plate.
1591. Percivall, Sp. Dict., Nadadero, a *swimming place.
1833. Loudon, Encycl. Archit., § 1443. A garden containing a bowling-green, quoit-ground, cricket-ground, *swimming-pond, and baths.
1835. Partington’s Brit. Cycl. Arts & Sci., II. 803/2. Every *swimming school ought to have a leaping tower.
1742. Daily Advertiser, 18 May (N. & Q., 10th Ser. X. 89). *Swimming-Stays are made by the above Exchange-Keeper to the utmost Perfection.
1839. Ure, Dict. Arts, 240. The *swimming or colour-tub is usually double, and serves for two tables.
1871. Darwin, Desc. Man, II. xii. II. 24. The hind-feet are provided with a *swimming web.
