Swoop vs Dive - What's the difference?
swoop | dive |
to fly or glide downwards suddenly; to plunge (in the air) or nosedive
to move swiftly, as if with a sweeping movement, especially to attack something
* 1922 , (Margery Williams), (The Velveteen Rabbit)
To fall on at once and seize; to catch while on the wing.
To seize; to catch up; to take with a sweep.
* Dryden
* Glanvill
To pass with pomp; to sweep.
an instance, or the act of suddenly plunging downward
* 1922 , (Margery Williams), (The Velveteen Rabbit)
an act of rushedly doing something
(music) passing quickly from one note to the next
To swim under water.
To jump into water head-first.
* Whately
To descend sharply or steeply.
(especially with in ) To undertake with enthusiasm.
(sports) To deliberately fall down after a challenge, imitating being fouled, in the hope of getting one's opponent penalised.
To cause to descend, dunk; to plunge something into water.
To explore by diving; to plunge into.
* Denham
* Emerson
(figurative) To plunge or to go deeply into any subject, question, business, etc.; to penetrate; to explore.
A jump or plunge into water.
A swim under water.
A decline.
(slang) A seedy bar, nightclub, etc.
(aviation) Aerial descend with the nose pointed down.
(sports) A deliberate fall after a challenge.
As verbs the difference between swoop and dive
is that swoop is to fly or glide downwards suddenly; to plunge (in the air) or nosedive while dive is to swim under water.As nouns the difference between swoop and dive
is that swoop is an instance, or the act of suddenly plunging downward while dive is a jump or plunge into water or dive can be .swoop
English
Verb
(en-verb) (intransitive)- The lone eagle swooped down into the lake, snatching its prey, a small fish.
- The dog had enthusiastically swooped down on the bone.
- 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.
- A hawk swoops a chicken.
- And now at last you came to swoop it all.
- The grazing ox which swoops it [the medicinal herb] in with the common grass.
- (Drayton)
Noun
(en noun)- The quality of decision is like the well-timed swoop of a falcon which enables it to strike and destroy its victim. – Sun Tzu
- 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 .
- 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
Anagrams
*dive
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) diven, duven, from the merger of (etyl) . See also (l), (l).Verb
- It is not that pearls fetch a high price because men have dived for them.
- She dove right in and started making improvements.
- (Hooker)
- The Curtii bravely dived the gulf of fame.
- He dives the hollow, climbs the steeps.
- (South)