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# swipe

«swipe» in Mova's school dictionary: **to move your finger across it to change what is shown:…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

### part of speech

verb (swipe, swipes, swiped, swiping); noun (a swipe, swipes)

### meaning for a pupil

1) To swipe a screen is to move your finger across it to change what is shown: swipe left. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/swipe/#m1)

2) To swipe a card is to pass it through or over a reader to pay or open a door. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/swipe/#m2)

3) To swipe at someone or something is to hit or try to hit with a big swinging movement. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/swipe/#m3)

4) (informal) To swipe something is to steal it quickly: someone swiped my pen. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/swipe/#m4)

5) A swipe is an unkind comment that criticises someone: he took a swipe at his rival. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/swipe/#m5)

### sense in the lessons

Everyday technology: swiping on phones and tablets; «swipe card» for school gates or buses. Online safety: think before you swipe to share or accept anything. Stories: a bear swiped at the fish; a cat took a swipe at the dog. News: politicians «take a swipe» at each other.

### examples

- Swipe left to see the next photo. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/swipe/#x1)
- Mum swiped her card to pay. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/swipe/#x2)
- The cat swiped at the string. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/swipe/#x3)
- Someone swiped my rubber! (informal) [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/swipe/#x4)
- The bear took a swipe at the beehive. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/swipe/#x5)
- The coach took a swipe at the referee in his interview. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/swipe/#x6)
- You need a swipe card to get into the building. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/swipe/#x7)

### note

Spelling: swipe drops e before -ing: swiping; past: swiped. The «steal» sense is informal; in formal writing say «stole». Similar: swish, swat (hit), nick (UK slang for steal).

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «swipe» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/swipe/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.