switch
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See also: Switch
English
[edit]
Etymology
[edit]Perhaps from Middle Dutch swijch (“twig”), first attested in c. 1592. The mechanical device for altering the direction of something sense is first attested in c. 1797, pertaining to pivoted rails on minecart railways,[1] which were once wooden.
Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]switch (plural switches)
- A device to turn electric current on and off or direct its flow.
- A change or exchange.
- 1985 December 7, Nicholas Deutsch, “Epstein on the Beach (review)”, in Gay Community News, volume 13, number 21, page 15:
- After many complications and sudden switches of career and identity for all […] they end up selling out for fame and money, and leave the boardwalk for good.
- 2011 January 19, Jonathan Stevenson, “Leeds 1 - 3 Arsenal”, in BBC[1]:
- Wenger sent on Cesc Fabregas and Van Persie to try to finish Leeds off and with 14 minutes left the switch paid off as the Spaniard sent Bendtner away down the right and his wonderful curling cross was headed in by Van Persie at the far post.
- 2024 January 10, 'Industry Insider', “Success built on liberalisation and market freedom”, in RAIL, number 1000, page 69:
- This is a result of a switch from High Street to online retailing, requiring consumer goods to be delivered to the door from large-scale distribution parks that have sufficient traffic to justify a rail terminal.
- (rail transport, US, Philippines) A movable section of railroad track which allows the train to be directed down one of two destination tracks; (set of) points.
- A slender woody plant stem used as a whip; a thin, flexible rod, associated with corporal punishment in the United States.
- 1953, James Baldwin, “Florence's Prayer”, in Go Tell It on the Mountain (Penguin Classics), London: Penguin Books, published 2001, →ISBN:
- Their mother would walk out into the yard and cut a switch from a tree and beat him—beat him, it seemed to Florence, until any other boy would have fallen down dead; […]
- 2007, Jeffrey W. Hamilton, Raising Godly Children in a Wicked World, Lulu.com, page 15:
- "A proper switch is a slim, flexible branch off a tree or a bush. A switch applied to the buttocks stings fiercely. It may leave red marks or bruises, but it causes no lasting damage.."
- (music) Synonym of rute.
- (computer science) A command line notation allowing specification of optional behavior.
- Use the /b switch to specify black-and-white printing.
- (computing, programming) A programming construct that takes different actions depending on the value of an expression.
- 2004, Curt, “Can I use IF statements, and still use switches?”, in microsoft.public.word.mailmerge.fields (Usenet):
- (computing, networking) A networking device connecting multiple wires, allowing them to communicate simultaneously, when possible. Compare to the less efficient hub device that solely duplicates network packets to each wire.
- (telecommunications) A system of specialized relays, computer hardware, or other equipment which allows the interconnection of a calling party's telephone line with any called party's line.
- (genetics) A mechanism within DNA that activates or deactivates a gene.
- (especially BDSM) One who is willing to take either a submissive or a dominant role in a sexual relationship.
- 2012, Terri-Jean Bedford, Bondage Bungalow Fantasies, page 99:
- Ideally, if one of your ladies happens to be a switch (or would be willing to switch for this scene), I would love to be able to inflict a little "revenge tickling" as well, as part of a scenario.
- (historical) A separate mass or tress of hair, or of some substance (such as jute) made to resemble hair, formerly worn on the head by women.
- (card games) A variant of crazy eights where one card, such as an ace, reverses the direction of play.
- (firearms, slang) Synonym of Glock switch.
- (slang, metonymically) A Glock pistol equipped with a Glock switch.
Synonyms
[edit]- (section of railroad track): (UK) points
- (whip): crop
- (command-line notation): flag, option, specifier
Hyponyms
[edit]- analogue switch
- ball switch
- centrifugal switch
- company switch
- digital switch
- DIP switch, dipswitch
- disconnect switch
- double pole, double throw switch
- fireman's switch
- float switch
- footswitch
- four-way switch
- hall-effect switch
- inertial switch
- isolator switch
- key switch
- kill switch
- knife switch
- latching switch
- light switch
- limit switch
- load control switch
- man's switch
- membrane switch
- mercury tilt switch
- microswitch
- network switch
- piezo switch
- pressure switch
- pull switch
- push switch
- railway switch
- reed switch
- reversing switch
- riboswitch
- rotary switch
- sail switch
- sense switch
- slotted optical switch
- stepping switch
- telecommunications switch
- thermal switch
- three-way switch
- tilt switch
- time switch
- touch switch
- transfer switch
- vandal resistant switch
- wall-mounted switch
- wireless light switch
- zero speed switch
Derived terms
[edit]- antenna switch
- antiswitch
- arrow switch
- asleep at the switch
- bait and switch
- bait-and-switch
- big red switch
- big switch
- bitch switch
- blab-off switch
- chicken switch
- circuit switched
- core switch
- crossbar switch
- dead man's switch
- dimmer switch
- DIP switch
- dipswitch
- double switch
- footswitch
- Glock switch
- hat switch
- hook switch
- hot switch
- intermediate switch
- jackknife switch
- mercury switch
- microswitch
- multiway switching
- on-off switch
- optical switch
- pickle switch
- public switched
- Q-switch
- railroad switch
- replacing switch
- RF switch matrix
- sleeping at the switch
- split switch
- Strowger switch
- switch access
- switchback
- switchblade
- switchboard
- switch box
- switch cane
- switch dealing
- switch engine
- switcheroo
- switchgear
- switch gear
- switch grass
- switch hit
- switch hitter
- switch hook
- switch horn
- switch keeper
- switchout
- switch pitcher
- switch selling
- switch trading
- switchy
- Texas switch
- toggle switch
- trip switch
- Turing switch
- two-way switch
- underload switch
- wye switch
Descendants
[edit]Translations
[edit]device to turn electric current on and off
|
movable section of railroad track
|
thin rod used as a whip
|
command line notation
system allowing the interconnection of telephone lines
|
networking device
|
someone willing to switch roles in BDSM
|
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
|
Verb
[edit]switch (third-person singular simple present switches, present participle switching, simple past and past participle switched)
- (transitive) To exchange.
- 2013 June 1, “Ideas coming down the track”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8838, page 13 (Technology Quarterly):
- A “moving platform” scheme […] is more technologically ambitious than maglev trains even though it relies on conventional rails. Local trains would use side-by-side rails to roll alongside intercity trains and allow passengers to switch trains by stepping through docking bays.
- I want to switch this red dress for a green one.
- (transitive) To change (something) to the specified state using a switch.
- Switch the light on.
- (transitive, in modern times Southern US) To whip or hit with a switch.
- 1899 March, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number MI, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part II:
- They were looking on the ground, absorbed in thought. The manager was switching his leg with a slender twig: his sagacious relative lifted his head.
- (intransitive) To change places, tasks, etc.
- I want to switch to a different seat.
- (slang, intransitive) To get angry suddenly; to quickly or unreasonably become enraged.
- To swing or whisk.
- to switch a cane
- To be swung or whisked.
- The angry cat's tail switched back and forth.
- To trim.
- 1811, Walter Nicol, The Planters Kalendar:
- Switch and clip thorn and other deciduous hedges.
- To turn from one railway track to another; to transfer by a switch; generally with off, from, etc.
- to switch off a train; to switch a car from one track to another
- (ecclesiastical) To shift to another circuit.
- (intransitive) To take on the opposite role (leader vs. follower) in a partner dance.
- 2023 February 18 (last accessed), “Heather Lombardi”, in The Dancing Fools[2]:
- Feel free to ask her to follow, lead, or switch!
Synonyms
[edit]- (to exchange): interchange, swap; See also Thesaurus:switch
Derived terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]to exchange
|
to change (something) to the specified state using a switch
|
to hit with a switch (rod)
|
to change places or tasks
|
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Adjective
[edit]switch (not comparable)
- (snowboarding) Pertaining to riding with the front and back feet swapped round compared to one's normal position.[2]
- (freestyle skiing) Pertaining to skiing backwards.
Coordinate terms
[edit](snowboarding):
Translations
[edit]See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Oxford English Dictionary, s.v. “switch (n.), sense I.3.a,” June 2024, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/4056072461.
- ^ BBC Sport, "Sochi 2014: A jargon-busting guide to the halfpipe", 11 February 2014
Further reading
[edit]
switch on Wikipedia.Wikipedia - switch (corporal punishment) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
Finnish
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]switch
Declension
[edit]| Inflection of switch (Kotus type 5/risti, no gradation) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| nominative | switch | switchit | |
| genitive | switchin | switchien | |
| partitive | switchiä | switchejä | |
| illative | switchiin | switcheihin | |
| singular | plural | ||
| nominative | switch | switchit | |
| accusative | nom. | switch | switchit |
| gen. | switchin | ||
| genitive | switchin | switchien | |
| partitive | switchiä | switchejä | |
| inessive | switchissä | switcheissä | |
| elative | switchistä | switcheistä | |
| illative | switchiin | switcheihin | |
| adessive | switchillä | switcheillä | |
| ablative | switchiltä | switcheiltä | |
| allative | switchille | switcheille | |
| essive | switchinä | switcheinä | |
| translative | switchiksi | switcheiksi | |
| abessive | switchittä | switcheittä | |
| instructive | — | switchein | |
| comitative | See the possessive forms below. | ||
French
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Audio: (file)
Adjective
[edit]switch
- (skiing, snowboarding) switch
- (especially BDSM) One who is willing to take either a submissive or a dominant role in a sexual relationship.
Portuguese
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Unadapted borrowing from English switch.
Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]switch m (plural switches or switch)
- (networking) switch (device connecting multiple wires, allowing them to communicate simultaneously)
- (computing) switch (command line notation allowing specification of optional behaviour)
- (programming) switch (construct that takes different actions depending on the value of an expression)
Categories:
- English terms borrowed from Middle Dutch
- English terms derived from Middle Dutch
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/ɪtʃ
- Rhymes:English/ɪtʃ/1 syllable
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with quotations
- en:Rail transportation
- American English
- Philippine English
- en:Musical instruments
- en:Computer science
- English terms with usage examples
- en:Computing
- en:Programming
- en:Networking
- en:Telecommunications
- en:Genetics
- en:BDSM
- English terms with historical senses
- en:Card games
- en:Firearms
- English slang
- English metonyms
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- English intransitive verbs
- English ecclesiastical terms
- English adjectives
- English uncomparable adjectives
- en:Snowboarding
- en:Skiing
- en:Hair
- en:Anger
- Finnish terms borrowed from English
- Finnish terms derived from English
- Finnish 1-syllable words
- Finnish terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:Finnish/itʃ
- Rhymes:Finnish/itʃ/1 syllable
- Finnish lemmas
- Finnish nouns
- Finnish terms spelled with W
- Finnish terms spelled with C
- fi:BDSM
- Finnish risti-type nominals
- French terms borrowed from English
- French terms derived from English
- French terms with audio pronunciation
- French lemmas
- French adjectives
- French terms spelled with W
- fr:Skiing
- fr:Snowboarding
- fr:BDSM
- Portuguese terms borrowed from English
- Portuguese unadapted borrowings from English
- Portuguese terms derived from English
- Portuguese 1-syllable words
- Portuguese terms with IPA pronunciation
- Portuguese lemmas
- Portuguese nouns
- Portuguese countable nouns
- Portuguese nouns with multiple plurals
- Portuguese terms spelled with W
- Portuguese masculine nouns
- pt:Networking
- pt:Computing
- pt:Programming