Also 7 swits, swytche, swich. [In branch I.: early forms swits, switz (see next); prob. ad. Flem. or LG. word represented by Hanoverian swutsche, variant of LG. zwukse long thin stick, switch (cf. zwuksen to bend up and down, also, to make a swishing noise like a lash). In branch II., f. SWITCH v.]
I. 1. A slender tapering riding whip.
Phr. Switch and spurs, upon the switch and spur = at full speed, in hot haste: see SPUR sb.1 2 a, quots. 1592–1708.
1592. Shaks., Rom. & Jul., II. iv. 73. Swits and spurs, Swits and spurs, or Ile crie a match.
c. 1600[?]. Distracted Emp., III. ii., in Bullen, O. Pl. (1884), III. 220. I must tyre, Theres not a swytche or prycke to quycken me.
1609. B. Jonson, Masque of Queens, Wks. (1616), 956. A Cloud of pitch, a spurre, and a switch, To haste him away, and a whirlewind play.
1655. Bp. Hall, Serm. Higham, 1 July, Rem. Wks. (1660), 209. The dog fears the whip, & the horse the switch.
1791. Boswell, Johnson, 16 Oct. 1773. He preferred riding with a switch.
c. 1815. Jane Austen, Persuas., x. To cut off the heads of some nettles … with his switch.
1894. Weyman, Under Red Robe, ii. (1897), 31. Thundering on the door with my riding switch.
† b. fig. Stimulus, incentive. Obs. rare.
1630. J. Taylor (Water P.), Gt. Eater Kent, 12. Any sawcy spurre or switch of sowre veriuce or acute vineger.
2. A thin flexible shoot cut from a tree.
1610. Beaum. & Fl., Scornf. Lady, V. iii. One that vpon the next anger of your brother, must raise a sconce by the high way, and sel switches.
1613. Shaks., Hen. VIII., V. iv. 9. Fetch me a dozen Crab-tree staues, and strong ones: these are but switches to ’em.
1693. Evelyn, De la Quint. Compl. Gard., II. 114. Some fix Spikes from space to space into the Wall sticking out about two Inches, to fasten Laths, Poles, Perches, or Switches upon them.
1711. Addison, Spect., No. 117, ¶ 5. There was not a Switch about her House which her Neighbours did not believe had carried her several hundreds of Miles.
1801. J. Thomson, Poems Sc. Dial., 133. A switch o’ rowan-tree.
1845. S. Hislop, in G. Smith, Life, ii. (1888), 57. The cotton is a low growing shrub, consisting of little more than two switches branching from each other.
b. A massage instrument made of twigs.
1887. D. Maguire, Art Massage, iv. (ed. 4), 114. Percussions with the closed hand, the palette, switch, or any other instrument of percussion.
3. Name for various mechanical devices for altering the direction of something, making a connection or disconnection, or other purposes. a. On a railway: A movable rail or pair of rails pivoted at one end, forming part of the track at a junction with a branch line, siding, etc., and used to deflect or ‘shunt’ a train, car, etc., from one line to another; often made tapering, and in that case distinctively called split switches, point-switches, or points (POINT sb.1 3 f). Also, by extension, the whole apparatus of which this is the essential part.
1797. J. Curr, Coal Viewer, 27. The part (h) being a stop to prevent the switch (g) from flying out too far.
1837. Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl., I. 71/2. The switches so arranged, that an engine can never run off the line.
1845. Ann. Reg., 89. A ‘switch’ which, when turned in one direction allows the train to pass direct on.
1898. Hamblen, Gen. Manager’s Story, iv. 40. I ran ahead…, opened and closed switches, cut off and coupled on the engine [etc.].
b. In an electric telegraph, telephone, signalling-, lighting-, or other apparatus: A lever, plug, or other device for making or breaking contact, or altering the connections of a circuit, e.g., for connecting a trunk line with one or other of various other lines. Also loosely = SWITCHBOARD.
1866. R. M. Ferguson, Electr., 240. The clerk … thereupon turns the switch and sets the clock-work in motion.
1889. Preece & Maier, Telephone, xxx. 461. This switch consisted of a board provided with as many spring plates as there were transmitters, and which allowed the switching on or off the batteries working the microphones.
1899. J. L. Williams, Stolen Story, etc., 42. Mr. Stone pulled down the switch and shut off the circuit of the Day’s outer office.
1909. Le Queux, House of Whispers, xviii. (1913), 128. She touched the switch, and the place became flooded by a soft, mellow light from lamps … concealed behind the bookcases against the wall.
c. ‘A key on a gas-burner to regulate the amount of gas passing, and, consequently, the light’ (Knight, Dict. Mech., 1875).
4. A long bunch or coil of hair, esp. of false hair worn by women to supplement the natural growth of hair.
1878. B. Harte, Man on Beach, 87. ‘If I couldn’t afford any other clothes, I might wear a switch, too!’ hissed the Amazonian queen.
1882. J. E. Sandeman, in Proc. R. Geog. Soc., N. S. IV. 264. One Kachin swaba … had two switches of hair of the thickness of one’s thumb, and four cubits long.
1888. Pall Mall G., 4 Aug., 5/1. The list of switches, such as the Jeunesse, the Frou Frou, the Basket Plait, and the Queen Anne.
5. A stag having switch-horns.
1912. Blackw. Mag., Dec. 805/2. ‘He’s nobbut a “switch,”’ he whispered into Lord Donald’s ear.
II. 6. An act of switching; a blow with a switch; also in Angling (cf. next, 3).
1809. T. Donaldson, Poems, 199. I’ll gie ye still anither switch, Or a’ be done.
1839. Mrs. Kirkland, New Home, xxvi. 166. Henry gave Job such a switch across the knuckles as effectually cleared the bridle.
1867. F. Francis, Angling, v. 130. The running line goes before the casting line, and it requires a sharp switch or cut to get the casting line fairly forward.
1883. Mrs. E. Kennard, Right Sort, xxi. [She] raised her whip-hand and gave the mare a smart switch.
7. Gunnery. Angle of switch = switching angle (SWITCHING vbl. sb. 5).
III. 8. attrib. and Comb., as switch-cord, -gear, -handle, -lever, -plug, -stick, -whip; switch-bar, a bar connected with a switch (on a railway or electrical apparatus); switch-blade, the ‘blade’ or hinged strip of metal of a ‘knife-switch’ in an electrical apparatus, which is inserted between the jaws to complete the circuit; switch-clerk, a telephone clerk or operator; switch-engine = switching-engine (SWITCHING vbl. sb. 5); so switch-engineer, the driver of a switch-engine; switch-grass, the couch-grass or squitch, Triticum repens; switch-horn, a stag’s horn without branches; also, a stag having such horns; switch-lamp, -lantern, a lamp or lantern fixed on a railway switch to indicate which track is open; switch-plant Bot., a plant having green switch-like branches, nearly or quite leafless, which perform the function of leaves; switch-rail = sense 3 a; switch-room, a room containing the switches of an electrical system (telegraph, telephone, etc.); switch-signal, a signal indicating the position of a railway switch; switch-snake = WHIP-SNAKE; switch-sorrel, name in Jamaica for the shrub Dodonæa viscosa, from the sour taste of its leaves; switch-stand, a stand or support for the levers and other apparatus connected with a set of railway switches; switch-table, a form of switchboard shaped like an ordinary table; switch tail = swish-tail (see SWISH-); also attrib. having such a tail; switch-tender, a man who attends to a set of switches on a railway, a switchman, pointsman; switch-tower U.S., a building containing the levers or other appliances for working a set of switches on a railway, etc.; a signal-box, -cabin, or -tower. See also SWITCHBOARD, SWITCHMAN.
1837. Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl., I. 52/2. The *switch bars corresponding with the straight line.
1909. Installation News, III. 119/2. The *switch blades are fitted with sparking contacts.
1889. Preece & Maier, Telephone, xiv. 230. No *switch-clerk is permitted to have charge of more than fifty renters. Ibid. The testing of the *switch-cords is a matter that must not be overlooked.
1896. Nebraska St. Jrnl., 15 Feb., 8/4. He was struck by the footboard of an approaching *switch engine.
1906. Westm. Gaz., 24 Dec., 8/1. To regulate the seniority list of the *switch engineers. Ibid. (1901), 31 Oct., 8/1. 6,000 horse-power in boilers, engines, dynamos, and *switch gear.
1840. J. Buel, Farmer’s Comp., 232. The quack, *switch, or witch grass, a variety of the fiorin.
1876. Preece & Sivewright, Telegraphy, 107. The *switch-handle itself is in connection with the back contact of the key K.
1880. H. C. St. John, Wild Coasts Nipon, 276. A stag with *switch horns.
1907. Spectator, 5 Jan., 11/1. The ‘hummel’ stag—that ungainly beast with no horns at all—is a better fighter than the ‘switch-horn.’
1898. Hamblen, Gen. Manager’s Story, ii. 12. An old man … who was trimming *switch lamps.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., *Switch-lantern, a lantern on the lever of a railway-switch, to indicate the condition of the switch either by its position or by the display of a colored light. Ibid., *Switch-lever, the handle and bar by which the switch is moved.
1894. Oliver, trans. Kerner’s Nat. Hist. Plants (1902), I. 330. Another group of plants known by the name of *‘switch’ plants … are characterized by their rod-shaped stems and branches…. The Spartium belongs to those switch-plants which are not entirely leafless.
1901. Brit. Med. Jrnl., 9 March, 573/2. A workman had fixed a brass socket (to hold the *switch plug).
1797. J. Curr, Coal Viewer, 26. The mode of turning out to the right hand, and passing, which is done … without a *switch rail, as is required in common waggon ways.
1901. Westm. Gaz., 7 Dec., 7/3. The *switch-room system is making its debut in London. This is known as the central battery system.
1838. Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl., I. 358. Railway *Switch Signal.
1791. W. Bartram, Carolina, 196. [The tail] not small and slender as in the *switch snake.
1864. *Switch Sorrel [see SORREL sb.1 4].
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., *Switch-stand (Railway) a fulcrum and locking-device for the levers whereby switch-rails are moved.
1858. Lytton, What will He do? III. xvi. In his hand he carried a supple *switch-stick.
1884. Knight, Dict. Mech., Suppl., The *‘switch’ tables, of which there are twelve in the Cincinnati [telephone] Exchange.
1689. Lond. Gaz., No. 2473/4. A sand grey Mare,… with a *switch Tail.
1776. Pennsylv. Even. Post, 4 June, 280/2. A bright bay horse,… three white feet, a switch tail, shod all round.
1853. Surtees, Sponge’s Sp. Tour, iii. 11. He had a famous switch tail, reaching nearly to his hocks.
1871. Routledge’s Ev. Boy’s Ann., May, 280. A bare-backed, switch-tail horse.
1870. E. E. Hale, Ten Times One, i. (Cent. Dict.). Her husband, who is now *switch-tender, lost his arm in the great smash-up.
1901. Munsey’s Mag., XXV. 699/1. The locomotive … stopping only once to allow McCann to drop another set of running orders at a *switch tower on the next division.
1815. Scott, Guy M., xxxviii. Slapping his boots with his *switch-whip.
