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Swoop vs Dash - What's the difference?

swoop | dash |

In lang=en terms the difference between swoop and dash

is that swoop is to seize; to catch up; to take with a sweep while dash is to complete hastily, usually with down'' or ''off .

As verbs the difference between swoop and dash

is that swoop is to fly or glide downwards suddenly; to plunge (in the air) or nosedive while dash is to run quickly or for a short distance.

As nouns the difference between swoop and dash

is that swoop is an instance, or the act of suddenly plunging downward while dash is (typography) any of the following symbols: (''horizontal bar ).

As an interjection dash is

(euphemistic) damn!.

swoop

English

Verb

(en-verb) (intransitive)
  • to fly or glide downwards suddenly; to plunge (in the air) or nosedive
    • The lone eagle swooped down into the lake, snatching its prey, a small fish.
  • to move swiftly, as if with a sweeping movement, especially to attack something
    • The dog had enthusiastically swooped down on the bone.
  • * 1922 , (Margery Williams), (The Velveteen Rabbit)
    • There was a person called Nana who ruled the nursery. Sometimes she took no notice of the playthings lying about, and sometimes, for no reason whatever, she went swooping about like a great wind and hustled them away in cupboards.
  • To fall on at once and seize; to catch while on the wing.
    • A hawk swoops a chicken.
  • To seize; to catch up; to take with a sweep.
  • * Dryden
    • And now at last you came to swoop it all.
  • * Glanvill
    • The grazing ox which swoops it [the medicinal herb] in with the common grass.
  • To pass with pomp; to sweep.
    • (Drayton)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • an instance, or the act of suddenly plunging downward
    • The quality of decision is like the well-timed swoop of a falcon which enables it to strike and destroy its victim. – Sun Tzu
  • * 1922 , (Margery Williams), (The Velveteen Rabbit)
    • One evening, when the Boy was going to bed, he couldn't find the china dog that always slept with him. Nana was in a hurry, and it was too much trouble to hunt for china dogs at bedtime, so she simply looked about her, and seeing that the toy cupboard door stood open, she made a swoop .
  • an act of rushedly doing something
    • Fortune's a right whore. If she give ought, she deals it in small parcels, that she may take away all at one swoop . – John Webster
  • (music) passing quickly from one note to the next

    • Anagrams

    *

    dash

    English

    Noun

    (es)
  • (typography) Any of the following symbols: (''horizontal bar ).
    • sometimes dash'' is also used colloquially to refer to a ''hyphen'' or ''minus sign .
  • A short run.
  • A small quantity of a liquid substance; less than 1/8 of a teaspoon.
    • Add a dash of vinegar
  • Vigor.
    • Aren't we full of dash this morning?
  • A dashboard.
  • * 1955 , edition, ISBN 0553249592, page 31:
    • The dash clock said 2:38 when.
  • One of the two symbols of Morse code.
  • (Nigeria) A bribe or gratuity.
  • * 1992 , George B. N. Ayittey, Africa betrayed (page 44)
    • The traditional practice of offering gifts or "dash " to chiefs has often been misinterpreted by scholars to provide a cultural explanation for the pervasive incidence of bribery and corruption in modern Africa.
  • * 2006 , Adiele Eberechukwu Afigbo, The Abolition of the Slave Trade in Southeastern Nigeria, 1885-1950 (page 99)
    • Writing in 1924 on a similar situation in Ugep, the political officer, Mr. S. T. Harvey noted: "In the old days there was no specified dowry but merely dashes given to the father-in-law
  • * 2008 , Lizzie Williams, Nigeria: The Bradt Travel Guide (page 84)
    • The only other times you'll be asked for a dash is from beggars.
  • (obsolete, euphemistic) A stand-in for a censored word, like "Devil" or "damn". (Compare deuce.)
  • * 1824 , "Kiddywinkle History, No. II", Blackwood's Magazine (15, May 1824) p. 540
    • I'll be dashed if I gan another step for less 'an oaf.
  • * 1853 , (William Makepeace Thackery), (The Newcomes)'', Chapter VI, serialized in ''Harper's New Monthly Magazine , (VIII, no. 43, Dec 1853) p. 118
    • Sir Thomas looks as if to ask what the dash is that to you! but wanting still to go to India again, and knowing how strong the Newcomes are in Leadenhall Street, he thinks it necessary to be civil to the young cub, and swallows his pride once more into his waistband.
  • *:Comment : Some editions leave this passage out. Of those that include it, some change the 'you!' to 'you?'.
  • * 1884 , (Lord Robert Gower), My Reminiscences'', reprinted in "The Evening Lamp", ''The Christian Union , (29) 22, (May 29, 1884) p. 524
    • Who the dash' is this person whom none of us know? and what the ' dash does he do here?
  • * 1939 , , (Uncle Fred in the Springtime) Chapter 8
    • I'll be dashed if I squash in with any domestic staff.

    Hyponyms

    * See also

    Hypernyms

    * punctuation mark

    Derived terms

    * dashing * dash off * em dash, en dash

    See also

    (punctuation)

    Verb

    (es)
  • To run quickly or for a short distance.
    • He dashed across the field.
  • (informal) To leave or depart.
    • I have to dash now. See you soon.
  • To destroy by striking (against).
    • He dashed the bottle against the bar and turned about to fight.
  • * 1897 , (Bram Stoker), (Dracula) Chapter 21
    • "`Silence! If you make a sound I shall take him and dash his brains out before your very eyes.'
  • * 1912 : (Edgar Rice Burroughs), (Tarzan of the Apes), Chapter 4
    • Kala was the youngest mate of a male called Tublat, meaning broken nose, and the child she had seen dashed to death was her first; for she was but nine or ten years old.
  • To throw violently.
    • The man was dashed from the vehicle during the accident.
  • * Francis Bacon
    • If you dash a stone against a stone in the bottom of the water, it maketh a sound.
  • To sprinkle; to splatter.
  • * Thomson
    • On each hand the gushing waters play, / And down the rough cascade all dashing fall.
  • (of hopes or dreams) To ruin; to destroy.
    • Her hopes were dashed when she saw the damage.
  • * {{quote-news
    • , year=2011 , date=September 13 , author=Sam Lyon , title=Borussia Dortmund 1 - 1 Arsenal , work=BBC citation , page= , passage=Arsenal's hopes of starting their Champions League campaign with an away win were dashed when substitute Ivan Perisic's superb late volley rescued a point for Borussia Dortmund.}}
  • To dishearten; to sadden.
    • Her thoughts were dashed to melancholy.
  • To complete hastily, usually with down'' or ''off .
    • He dashed''' down his eggs'', ''she '''dashed off her homework
  • To draw quickly; jot.
  • * 1922 , (Virginia Woolf), (w, Jacob's Room) Chapter 1
    • "Scarborough," Mrs. Flanders wrote on the envelope, and dashed a bold line beneath; it was her native town; the hub of the universe.
  • To throw in or on in a rapid, careless manner; to mix, reduce, or adulterate, by throwing in something of an inferior quality; to overspread partially; to bespatter; to touch here and there.
    • to dash''' wine with water; to '''dash paint upon a picture
  • * Addison
    • I take care to dash the character with such particular circumstance as may prevent ill-natured applications.
  • * Tennyson
    • The very source and fount of day / Is dashed with wandering isles of night.

    Interjection

    (en interjection)
  • (euphemistic) Damn!

    • See also

    * hyphen * minus sign

    Anagrams

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