swap
Definitions
General English
- verb to exchange something for something else
Computing
- verb to stop using one program, put it into store temporarily, run another program, and when that is finished, return to the first one
Economics
- noun an arrangement between central banks to allow each other credit in their respective currencies so as to make currency transactions easier
Electronics
- To move a program, parts of a program, or data, from a hard drive to RAM and vice versa. By swapping applications and data in and out of the system's memory as needed, the operating system is able to address more memory than is physically available. Used, for instance, when a program is too large for the memory available to a given computer.
- To exchange one thing for another, as occurs, for instance, in hot swapping.
- acronym forShared Wireless Access Protocol (written as SWAP)
- A protocol utilized for wireless networking in a home, employing cordless telephone and WLAN technologies. Utilized for short-range telephonic and data communications, such as those between computers and properly equipped devices such as cell phones, PDAs, and smart applicances. Its acronym is SWAP.
Information & Library Science
- verb to exchange information, giving one item and receiving another in its place
Origin & History of “swap”
Swap originally meant ‘hit’ (‘With a swing of his sword (he) swapped him in the face’, Destruction of Troy 1400). It came from a prehistoric Germanic base denoting ‘hit’ (presumably imitative of the sound of hitting), which also produced German schwappen ‘splash, whack’. The modern English sense ‘exchange’ emerged in the 16th century from the notion of ‘striking the hands together to seal a bargain’.
