[? partly local variant of SWEEP v., partly f. SWIPE sb.2]
1. trans. and intr. To drink hastily and copiously; to drink at one gulp. (Cf. sweep off, SWEEP v. 6 b.) slang or colloq.
1829. Brockett, N. C. Words (ed. 2), Swipe, to drink off to the very bottom.
1876. Whitby Gloss., Swipe, v. to drink the whole at one draught. ‘Swipe it off.’
1890. ‘R. Boldrewood,’ Col. Reformer (1891), 134. At the public, he talks a deal more than he swipes.
2. intr. a. (See quot. 1825.) Sc. b. To strike at with the full swing of the arms; chiefly in cricket (see SWIPE sb.2 2).
1825. Jamieson, To Swipe, v.n. 1. To move circularly, Lanarks. 2. To give a stroke in a semicircular or elliptical form, as when one uses a scythe in cutting down grass, S.
1857. Chambers’ Inform., II. 690/2. Always treat them [sc. ‘shooting-balls’] entirely on the defensive in preference to ‘swipeing away’ at them blindly.
1857. Hughes, Tom Brown, II. viii. The first ball of the over Jack steps out and meets, swiping with all his force.
1869. Routledge’s Ev. Boy’s Ann., 638. Wilson was now as bold as a lion, swiping at every ball.
c. trans. To deal a swinging blow or hit at (esp. in cricket).
1881. Leicestershire Gloss., Swipe, v.a., to hit anything a heavy blow, as a cricket-ball, &c.
1886. Trans. Amer. Philol. Assoc., XVII. 45. A vulgar but strong expression in the South for a severe beating is, ‘He swiped up the very earth with him,’ or ‘He swiped the whole thing out’—in these cases meaning about the same as sweep.
1888. Sheffield Gloss., s.v., The bat is swung round horizontally, and not in the usual way. A cricketer would say ‘he fairly swiped it off his wicket.’
3. intr. and trans. = SWEEP v. 17.
1881. Times, 22 Dec., 3/6. The men went out for the purpose of swiping for anchors.
1883. G. C. Davies, Norfolk Broads, xl. (1884), 314. Rusty anchors which have been ‘swiped’ up out of the deep.
1893. Cozens-Hardy, Broad Norfolk, 77. Swiping, raising old anchors for an Admiralty reward.
4. trans. To steal, ‘appropriate’; to loot. U.S.
1890. Barrère & Leland, Slang Dict., Swipe (American), to appropriate. Frequently said of actors or exhibitors who take the stage jokes of others, and pass them off for their own.
1896. Boston (Mass.) Jrnl., 5 Nov., 10/1. There must have been something of interest in the newspaper,… for I notice that somebody has swiped ours.
1900. Kipling, in Daily Mail, 23 April, 4/5. He was in luck. Had helped ‘swipe’ a Boer wagon overturned by our shell fire.
Hence Swiping vbl. sb.
1860. Jas. Thomson, in H. S. Salt, Life (1889), ii. 39. O it’s then we’re on the loose, and the swiping grows profuse, And we drink rivers, lakes, and seas.
1862. Pycroft, Cricket Tutor, 47. As to the Drive, (1) avoid ‘Swiping,’ or hitting the ball in the air.
1883. G. C. Davies, Norfolk Broads, clxi. (1884), 314. The process of raising the anchors is called ‘swiping.’
