swat
/swɒt
/verb (swats, swatting, swatted) [with object]
1Hit or crush (something, especially an insect) with a sharp blow from a flat object: I swatted a mosquito that had landed on my wrist [no object]: she was swatting at a fly...
- The fly then landed on National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Tom Davis (Va.), who tried in vain to swat the insect.
- These bats are primarily insectivorous, and most hawk insects in flight, often using their wings like tennis rackets and swatting the insects into the tail membrane.
- The tail is often used as an ‘extra hand’ to swat insects.
1.1Hit (someone) with a sharp blow: she swatted him over the head with a rolled-up magazine...
- She laughed and swatted him with a towel and we witnessed what we would later come to recognize as the rejuvenating power of real estate.
- My first game was against Stirling County, and Gareth Flockhart just thought I was some little joker and swatted me.
- Bob swats him away in anger, calls him a queer and tells him to get out.
noun
A sharp blow: the dog gave the hedgehog a sideways swat...
- ‘She runs voice identification tests on his wife and kids,’ said another secretary in the office whose knuckles appeared to have been bruised by swats from a ruler.
- Michlen has painful memories of fraternity life at university: paddle swats, punches and a punctured lung.
- Returning to the toddler analogy, the most you might do is a sharp word or a small swat on the rear.
Origin
Early 17th century (in the sense 'sit down'): northern English dialect and US variant of squat.