swim1 verbswim2 noun
swimswim1 /swɪm/ ●●● S3 verb (past tense swam /swæm/, past participle swum /swʌm/, present participle swimming) 
WORD ORIGINswim1
Origin:
Old English swimmanVERB TABLE
swim
| Simple Form | ||
| Present | I, you, we, they | swim |
| he, she, it | swims | |
| Past | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | swam |
| Present perfect | I, you, we, they | have swum |
| he, she, it | has swum | |
| Past perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | had swum |
| Future | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will swim |
| Future perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will have swum |
| Continuous Form | ||
| Present | I | am swimming |
| he, she, it | is swimming | |
| you, we, they | are swimming | |
| Past | I, he, she, it | was swimming |
| you, we, they | were swimming | |
| Present perfect | I, you, we, they | have been swimming |
| he, she, it | has been swimming | |
| Past perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | had been swimming |
| Future | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will be swimming |
| Future perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will have been swimming |
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
- Dad swims fifty laps in the pool every morning.
- I didn't learn to swim until I was ten years old.
- I don't like swimming the breaststroke.
- For a moment, tears swam in his eyes and he fought for control.
- In the afternoons they sunbathed and swam.
- Just as he was beginning to get worried in case she had gone too far, she turned and swam back.
- Slowly and carefully I swam round the dark walls of the castle.
- Steinkamp swam up to it and stuck her thumbs in her ears, seemingly making a childish face at it.
- To swim in it is dangerous, unnecessary and probably obscene.
- You swim a few laps, lie in the sun, eat a burger.
Longman Language Activatorto represent a person or group
if you represent a person or group at a meeting or in a law court or parliament, you give their opinions and make decisions for them; if you represent a country, school etc in a competition, you have been chosen to compete for that country or school: · Each class will elect two students to represent them on the School Council.· Trade Unions representing ambulance workers yesterday agreed to accept a 5% pay increase.· The new law has been criticized by groups representing disabled people.· The athletes will represent China in this year's Olympic Games.· Wilson was represented in court by a top criminal lawyer.
if you speak to people on behalf of someone, you express their ideas, opinions, or feelings for them: · On behalf of everyone here, I'd like to wish Ted a long and happy retirement.· I would like to thank you all on my mother's behalf for all your cards and good wishes.act on behalf of somebody: · The lawyer acting on behalf of Mrs Anderson said he would continue the fight to clear her name.
to represent a group of people by expressing their feelings, thoughts, or beliefs: · David Blunkett, speaking for the Labour Party, said more money should be spent on higher education.· I can only speak for my own family, not for the other families involved in this case.
to represent someone by making decisions for them, especially legal or financial decisions: · It's a good idea to have an estate agent to act for you when you are selling a house.· Lawyers acting for the defendant asked for her case to be adjourned while they examined new evidence.
if you play, run, swim etc for a school, club, or country, you represent it in a sports competition against other schools, clubs, or countries: · Playing rugby for England had always been one of his dreams.· I used to swim for my school.· Simon Short, running for Scotland, is in the lead as they come round the final bend.
WORD SETSarmband, nounbackstroke, nounbathe, verbbather, nounbathing, nounbathing cap, nounbathing costume, nounbathing suit, nounbathing trunks, nounbeachwear, nounbelly flop, nounbikini, nounbreaststroke, nouncostume, noundip, noundive, verbdive, noundiver, noundiving, noundiving board, noundoggy paddle, noundog paddle, nounduck, verbdunk, verbfloat, nounfreestyle, nounlength, nounlifeguard, nounlifesaver, nounlife-saving, nounmedley, nounpaddling pool, nounspringboard, nounstroke, nounswim, verbswim, nounswimmer, nounswimming bath, nounswimming costume, nounswimming pool, nounswimming trunks, nounswimsuit, nounswimwear, nounsynchronized swimming, nounwaterwings, noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
Let’s go for a walk. I need to go shopping this afternoon. Every morning she swims 50 laps in the pool. I swam ten widths.COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADVERB
· A swimming cap will stop you getting your hair wet.
· the Women's Golf Championship
· Red fish swam on either side of the boat.
Let’s go for a walk. I need to go shopping this afternoon. Every morning she swims 50 laps in the pool.· Dad said he'd pay for driving lessons as my birthday present.
(=that someone does, drinks etc in the morning)· She read the paper while drinking her morning coffee.
I swam ten widths.· With powerful strokes, he swam across to the pillar, which was still elevated from my own adventure.· Once, even, a grebe swam across.
· For hours the magician swam around, with the normally chatty parrot perched silently on his shoulder.· Even birds need toys - fish must have some plants and rocks to swim around.· She jacked out so quickly the tutor's office swam around her before she knew what it was.· She swam around and looked for a way out, but the pool was very big.
· She will not face inland, and so the Whale will not swim ashore.· Very few of our men swam ashore, most of those who were rescued from the water being saved by small boats.· As it was dark by now, no bullets hit them, and they began to swim ashore.
VERB· Maurice had never learned to swim, but this did not disturb him.· We had to learn to swim or drown.· Students may remember their early failures in learning to ride a bike or a skateboard, or learning to swim.· She thinks a man like me learns his sexuality like some one learns to ride a bicycle or learns how to swim.· July was spent at Oyster Bay, where Corinne and her playmates learned to swim by getting thrown into the water.· Generations of Berkeley children, including Julie herself, had learned to swim in the brook, as it was called locally.· And I could learn to swim enough, and run, if I wanted to.
PHRASES FROM THE ENTRYPHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
- The only Italian food we'd ever heard about was a bowl of spaghetti swimming in tomato sauce.
- Light given out by distant galaxies has to swim against the tide of expansion to get to us.
- There s no point in you tryin to swim against the tide now, is there?
- Barry Wood reports Pam Shriver has always been one of the most colourful tennis professionals.
- For further details on the Wilson range for ladies, contact your local golf professional.
- From the inter-war years a small number of tennis professionals played tournaments in the United States.
- He was, as golf professionals had been for a hundred years, a serf.
- Some people advocate leaving the jobless to sink or swim.
- A case of sink or swim.
- But it is a collective machine because they all sink or swim with her.
- It was sink or swim as a classroom teacher.
- Now it was sink or swim.
- Only one person really cared whether he sank or swam, and he was far off in Paris.
- She had been thrown in at the deep end and it was a question of sink or swim.
- The Ohio bank does not leave its newcomers to sink or swim by themselves.
- When a promising apprentice loses his claim it is usually sink or swim time.
- A sponsored walk to aid the preservation fund was held on 1st February 1992 and realised the excellent sum of £200.
- Another solo fundraising effort will be a sponsored swim by Karon Mills at Fenton Pool.
- Contributions of jars of preserves for sale at the Houghall sponsored walk should be brought to the June meeting.
- Funds to help Pauline Sparks become a teacher were raised from a sponsored walk undertaken by Hila Hyam.
- Some of these activities include sponsored walks, dances, race nights and raffles.
- The youngsters took part in an arduous sponsored swim to raise the cash.
WORD FAMILYnounswimswimmerswimmingverbswimadverbswimmingly
1move through water [intransitive, transitive] to move yourself through water using your arms and legsswim in We swam in the chilly water.swim around/across etc She could swim across the lake. kids learning to swim the backstroke She was the first woman to swim the Channel.2water animals [intransitive always + adverb/preposition] when fish, ducks etc swim, they move around the water using their tails and fins, their feet etc: Tropical fish swam slowly around in the tank.3not thinking/seeing properly [intransitive] a)if your head swims, you start to feel confused or that everything is spinning around: My head was swimming after looking at that screen all day. b)if something you are looking at swims, it seems to be moving around, usually because you are ill, tired, or drunk: The numbers swam before my eyes.4be swimming in something to be covered by a lot of liquid: potatoes swimming in thick gravy5swim against the tide/current etc to do or say things which are different from what most people do or say, because you do not mind being different OPP swim with the tide → sink or swim at sink1(15)swim1 verbswim2 noun
swimswim2 ●●○ noun [countable] EXAMPLES FROM THE CORPUS
- I took off my glasses, left them on my towel on the tiles, and went for a quick swim.
- I was very disappointed to find that the family swim session has been canceled this year.
- She should also have a 30-minute swim.
WORD SETS
armband, nounbackstroke, nounbathe, verbbather, nounbathing, nounbathing cap, nounbathing costume, nounbathing suit, nounbathing trunks, nounbeachwear, nounbelly flop, nounbikini, nounbreaststroke, nouncostume, noundip, noundive, verbdive, noundiver, noundiving, noundiving board, noundoggy paddle, noundog paddle, nounduck, verbdunk, verbfloat, nounfreestyle, nounlength, nounlifeguard, nounlifesaver, nounlife-saving, nounmedley, nounpaddling pool, nounspringboard, nounstroke, nounswim, verbswim, nounswimmer, nounswimming bath, nounswimming costume, nounswimming pool, nounswimming trunks, nounswimsuit, nounswimwear, nounsynchronized swimming, nounwaterwings, noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE ENTRY Let’s go for a swim.COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES Let’s go for a walk. I need to go shopping this afternoon. Every morning she swims 50 laps in the pool. I swam ten widths.COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSVERB
Let’s go for a swim.· A swimming cap will stop you getting your hair wet.
· the Women's Golf Championship
· Red fish swam on either side of the boat.
Let’s go for a walk. I need to go shopping this afternoon. Every morning she swims 50 laps in the pool.· Dad said he'd pay for driving lessons as my birthday present.
(=that someone does, drinks etc in the morning)· She read the paper while drinking her morning coffee.
I swam ten widths.· Roach being taken from swims just above the by pass bridge.· Then we take a swim along the edge of the floating bog.· About the time he had taken his reluctant swim.· The next morning I took him for a swim.· But as her parents took her for a swim, she collapsed without warning and died.· This was no place to take a swim.· They get the payback the first time they take a swim.
PHRASES FROM THE ENTRYPHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
- Rolling bream and line bites told me that fish were in the swim.
- When I have a shoal of feeding bream in the swim I can not rest easy.
- Barry Wood reports Pam Shriver has always been one of the most colourful tennis professionals.
- For further details on the Wilson range for ladies, contact your local golf professional.
- From the inter-war years a small number of tennis professionals played tournaments in the United States.
- He was, as golf professionals had been for a hundred years, a serf.
- Some people advocate leaving the jobless to sink or swim.
- A case of sink or swim.
- But it is a collective machine because they all sink or swim with her.
- It was sink or swim as a classroom teacher.
- Now it was sink or swim.
- Only one person really cared whether he sank or swam, and he was far off in Paris.
- She had been thrown in at the deep end and it was a question of sink or swim.
- The Ohio bank does not leave its newcomers to sink or swim by themselves.
- When a promising apprentice loses his claim it is usually sink or swim time.
- A sponsored walk to aid the preservation fund was held on 1st February 1992 and realised the excellent sum of £200.
- Another solo fundraising effort will be a sponsored swim by Karon Mills at Fenton Pool.
- Contributions of jars of preserves for sale at the Houghall sponsored walk should be brought to the June meeting.
- Funds to help Pauline Sparks become a teacher were raised from a sponsored walk undertaken by Hila Hyam.
- Some of these activities include sponsored walks, dances, race nights and raffles.
- The youngsters took part in an arduous sponsored swim to raise the cash.
WORD FAMILYnounswimswimmerswimmingverbswimadverbswimmingly
1a period of time that you spend swimming: Let’s go for a swim.2in the swim (of things) informal knowing about and involved in what is happening in a particular situation