swab

noun

/swɒb/

/swɑːb/

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a piece of soft material used by a doctor, nurse, etc. for cleaning wounds or taking a sample from somebody’s body for testing see also cotton swabTopics Medicinec2
an act of taking a sample from somebody’s body, with a swab
- to take a throat swab
Topics Medicinec2

Word Originmid 17th cent. (in the sense ‘mop for cleaning the decks’): back-formation from swabber ‘sailor detailed to swab decks’, from early modern Dutch zwabber, from a Germanic base meaning ‘splash’ or ‘sway’.

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biopsy
diagnose
examine
sample
scan
swab
symptom
test
ultrasound
X-ray

swab

verb

/swɒb/

/swɑːb/

Verb Forms

present simple I / you / we / they swab	/swɒb/ /swɑːb/
he / she / it swabs	/swɒbz/ /swɑːbz/
past simple swabbed	/swɒbd/ /swɑːbd/
past participle swabbed	/swɒbd/ /swɑːbd/
-ing form swabbing	/ˈswɒbɪŋ/ /ˈswɑːbɪŋ/

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swab something to clean or remove liquid from a wound, etc., using a swabTopics Medicinec2
swab something (down) to clean or wash a floor, surface, etc. using water and a cloth, etc.
- I swabbed down the table using disinfectant.
- Swab each nail free of grease before applying nail polish.