swift

Formsswifter, swiftest

Pluralswifts

1. 1
   without delayadjective

   Happening, moving, or done quickly.

   The company's swift response kept the problem from spreading.

   Critics demanded swifter action on the housing crisis.

   Similarquick, rapid, prompt, speedy

   Oppositeslow, sluggish

   Note

   Speed was not the root's first idea: the word goes back through Proto-Germanic *swiftaz to an Indo-European root meaning "to twist, wind around", and its relatives include Old English swīfan, "to revolve, sweep", and swivel. By Old English it already meant quick, and it compares in the plain way, swifter and swiftest.

2. 2
   fast-movingadjective

   Able to move at high speed.

   A swift little sailboat can outpace most of the fleet in a steady breeze.

   Cheetahs are the swiftest animals on land.

   Similarfast, quick, speedy

   Oppositeslow, sluggish

3. 3
   birdnouncountable

   A small, plain-colored bird of the family Apodidae that looks like a swallow and is known for its fast flight.

   Screaming swifts raced around the church tower on summer evenings.

   A swift nested under the eaves of the old barn.

   Note

   Its rapid flight is the point of the name, which is the plain adjective turned into a noun. It looks like a swallow but is not one: swifts make up their own family, Apodidae, which also takes in the needletails, spinetails and swiftlets.

4. 4
   mothnouncountable

   A moth of the family Hepialidae, also called a swift moth or ghost moth.

   The moth trap by the meadow caught a single swift among dozens of other moths.

   The swift's caterpillars feed underground, out of sight.

   Note

   Some of these moths, the ghost swifts, have no ears to warn them of hunting bats, so they hide in plain sight: they gather to mate less than half a meter above the vegetation, where their echoes blur into those from leaves and stems. William E. Conner describes the trick in "An Acoustic Arms Race" in American Scientist (2013).

5. 5
   lizardnouncountable

   Any of certain lizards belonging to the genus Sceloporus.

   The spiny-scaled swift darted under a log as we approached.

   Desert swifts bask on boulders in the morning before the heat drives them into the cracks.

6. 6
   skipper butterflynouncountable

   Any of various fast-flying butterflies of the family Hesperiidae.

   Even experienced butterfly watchers struggle to follow a swift in flight.

   Several swifts were feeding on the lantana, darting off whenever another butterfly came near.

   Note

   These are skippers, the stout-bodied butterflies of the family Hesperiidae known for a quick, darting flight, so a swift is one kind of skipper rather than a group of its own. Like the bird, it takes its name from speed.

7. 7
   yarn holdernouncountable

   A light, collapsible reel that holds a hank of yarn while it is wound off into skeins or balls.

   Clamp the swift to the edge of the table, open it like an umbrella, and slip the hank over it.

   With the hank stretched on a swift, the yarn unwinds without tangling.

   Note

   A hand tool rather than a mill machine: the hank sits stretched around the light reel, which turns as the yarn is wound off into balls or skeins, then folds flat to be put away. Winding is a fitting job for this word, whose root, behind the "quick" adjective, meant to twist and wind around.

8. 8
   machine rollernouncountable

   In textile manufacturing, the large cylinder at the center of a carding machine, which serves as its main working part.

   Thousands of fine wire teeth on the swift tease the cotton fibers apart.

   As the swift turns, smaller rollers around it work the fibers into a thin web.

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