swift
Definitions
General English
- adjective very fast
Banking
- abbreviation (written as SWIFT)Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications
- acronym forSociety for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (written as SWIFT)
Construction
- A reel or turntable on which prestressing tendons are placed to facilitate handling and placing.
Slang
- verb to give false evidence, ‘bend’ the evidence. A piece of police slang. A police officer who is adept at this practice is known as ‘a (bit of a) swifter’. ‘Swift it’ is another form of the verb.
Origin & History of “swift”
The etymological meaning of swift appears to be ‘moving along a course’; ‘speed’ is a secondary development. It goes back ultimately to the prehistoric Germanic base *swei- ‘swing, bend’, which also produced English sweep, swivel (14th c.), and the long defunct swive ‘copulate with’ (a descendant of Old English swīfan ‘move in a course’). Its use as a name for the fast-flying swallow-like bird dates from the 17th century.
