| swab | A wad of cotton, gauze, or other absorbent material attached to the end of a stick or clamp, used for applying or removing a substance from a surface. (05 Mar 2000) |
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| swaddlebill | <zoology> The shoveler. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| swagbelly | 1. A prominent, overhanging belly. 2. <medicine> Any large tumour developed in the abdomen, and neither fluctuating nor sonorous. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| swage | 1. To fuse suture thread to suture needles. 2. To shape metal by hammering or adapting it onto a die, often by using a counterdie. Origin: Old F. Souage (05 Mar 2000) |
| swagger | 1. To walk with a swaying motion; hence, to walk and act in a pompous, consequential manner. "A man who swaggers about London clubs." (Beaconsfield) 2. To boast or brag noisily; to be ostentatiously proud or vainglorious; to bluster; to bully. "What a pleasant it is . . . To swagger at the bar!" (Arbuthnot) "To be great is not . . . To swagger at our footmen." (Colier) Origin: Freq. Of swag. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| swainsonine | <chemical> Fungal alkaloid that inhibits the mannosidase in the Golgi that is involved in processing the oligosaccharide chains of glycoproteins. (18 Nov 1997) |
| swale | <ecology> A hollow or depression, especially one in wet, marshy ground. (19 Jan 1998) |
| swallow | 1. To take into the stomach; to receive through the gullet, or oesophagus, into the stomach; as, to swallow food or drink. "As if I had swallowed snowballs for pills." (Shak) 2. To draw into an abyss or gulf; to ingulf; to absorb usually followed by up. "The earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their houses." (Num. Xvi. 32) 3. To receive or embrace, as opinions or belief, without examination or scruple; to receive implicitly. "Though that story . . . Be not so readily swallowed." (Sir T. Browne) 4. To engross; to appropriate; usually with up. "Homer excels . . . In this, that he swallowed up the honor of those who succeeded him." (Pope) 5. To occupy; to take up; to employ. "The necessary provision of the life swallows the greatest part of their time." (Locke) 6. To seize and waste; to exhaust; to consume. "Corruption swallowed what the liberal hand Of bounty scattered." (Thomson) 7. To retract; to recant; as, to swallow one's opinions. "Swallowed his vows whole." 8. To put up with; to bear patiently or without retaliation; as, to swallow an affront or insult. Synonym: To absorb, imbibe, ingulf, engross, consume. See Absorb. Origin: OE. Swolewen, swolwen, swolhen, AS. Swelgan; akin to D. Zwelgen, OHG. Swelahan, swelgan, G. Schwelgen to feast, to revel, Icel. Svelgia to swallow, SW. Svalja, Dan. Svaelge. Cf. Groundsel a plant. 1. <ornithology> Any one of numerous species of passerine birds of the family Hirundinidae, especially one of those species in which the tail is deeply forked. They have long, pointed wings, and are noted for the swiftness and gracefulness of their flight. The most common North American species are the barn swallow (see under Barn), the cliff, or eaves, swallow (see under Cliff), the white-bellied, or tree, swallow (Tachycineta bicolour), and the bank swallow (see under Bank). The common European swallow (Chelidon rustica), and the window swallow, or martin (Chelidon urbica), are familiar species. 2. <zoology> Any one of numerous species of swifts which resemble the true swallows in form and habits, as the common American chimney swallow, or swift. 3. The aperture in a block through which the rope reeves. <zoology> Swallow plover, any one of numerous species of East Indian and Australian singing birds of the genus Dicaeum. They are allied to the honeysuckers. Origin: OE. Swalowe, AS. Swalewe, swealwe; akin to D. Zwaluw, OHG. Swalawa, G. Schwalbe, Icel. & Sw. Svala, Dan. Svale. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| swallow syncope | Faintness or unconsciousness upon swallowing. This is nearly always due to excessive vagal effect on the heart that may already have bradycardia or atrioventricular block. (05 Mar 2000) |
| swallow-tailed | 1. Having a tail like that of a swallow; hence, like a swallow's tail in form; having narrow and tapering or pointed skirts; as, a swallow-tailed coat. 2. United by dovetailing; dovetailed. Swallow-tailed duck, a European moth (Urapteryx sambucaria) having tail-like lobes on the hind wings. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| swallowfish | <zoology> The European sapphirine gurnard (Trigla hirundo). It has large pectoral fins. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| swallowing reflex | The act of swallowing (second stage) induced by stimulation of the palate, fauces, or posterior pharyngeal wall. Synonym: deglutition reflex, pharyngeal reflex. (05 Mar 2000) |
| swallowing threshold | The moment that the act of swallowing begins after the mastication of food, the critical moment of reflex action initiated by minimum stimulation, prior to the act of deglutition. (05 Mar 2000) |
| swallowtail | 1. A kind of tenon or tongue used in making joints. See Dovetail. 2. <botany> A species of willow. 3. An outwork with converging sides, its head or front forming a reentrant angle; so called from its form. Called also priestcap. 4. A swallow-tailed coat. "This Stultz coat, a blue swallowtail, with yellow buttons." (Thackeray) 5. An arrow. 6. <zoology> Any one of numerous species of large and handsome butterflies, belonging to Papilio and allied genera, in which the posterior border of each hind wing is prolongated in the form of a long lobe. The black swallowtail, or asterias (see Papilio), the blue swallowtail, or philenor, the tiger swallowtail, or turnus (see Turnus), and the zebra swallowtail, or ajax (see under Zebra) are common American species. See also Troilus. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| swallowwort | <botany> See Celandine. A poisonous plant (Vincetoxicum officinale) of the Milkweed family, at one time used in medicine; also called white swallowwort. African swallowwort, a plant of the genus Stapelia. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |