“swifter” is a form of
swift
/swɪft/ adjective, adverb, noun, proper noun
Forms swifter swiftest swifts
- adjective Fast; quick; rapid. “swift action”
- adjective Capable of moving at high speeds.
- adjective (informal) Quick-thinking; bright.
- adverb (obsolete or poetic) Swiftly.
- noun A small plain-colored bird of the family Apodidae that resembles a swallow and is noted for its rapid flight.
- noun Any of certain lizards of the genus Sceloporus.
- noun (entomology) A moth of the family Hepialidae, swift moth, ghost moth.
- noun (entomology) Any of various fast-flying hesperiid butterflies.
- noun (textiles) A light, collapsible reel used to hold a hank of yarn in order to wind off skeins or balls.
- noun The main cylinder of a carding-machine.
- noun (obsolete) The current of a stream.
- proper noun A surname transferred from the nickname, originally a nickname for a swift or quick person.
- proper noun (computer languages) A general-purpose multi-paradigm compiled programming language introduced by Apple Inc. in 2014.
- proper noun An unincorporated community in DuPage County, Illinois, United States.
- proper noun An unincorporated community in Roseau County, Minnesota, United States.
- proper noun An extinct town in Pemiscot County, Missouri, United States.
- proper noun A minor river in Leicestershire and Warwickshire, England, United Kingdom; a which joins the (Warwickshire) in Avon north of Rugby.
Synonyms
swith needletail spinetail swiftlet fence lizard spiny lizard Society for Worldwide Financial Telecommunication Gustavus Franklin Swift Jonathan Swift Dean Swift western fence lizard blue-belly Sceloporus occidentalis fleet
Etymology
From Middle English swift, from Old English swift (“swift; quick”), from Proto-Germanic *swiftaz (“swift; quick”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)weyp- (“to twist; wind around”). Cognate with Icelandic svipta (“to pull quickly”), Old English swīfan (“to revolve, sweep, wend, intervene”). More at swivel.
Derived from swift, from Middle English swift, from Old English swift, from swīfan, from Proto-Germanic *swībaną, from Proto-Indo-European *kswéybʰ-e-ti, from *ksweybʰ-.
Abbreviation.
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Moving a great distance in a short time; moving with celerity or velocity; fleet; rapid; quick; speedy; prompt.
- adjective Of short continuance; passing away quickly. Shak.
- adverb Swiftly. [Obs. or Poetic] Shak.
- noun The current of a stream. [R.] Walton.
Etymology [AS. swift; akin to swapan to sweep, swipu a whip; cf. swifan to move quickly, to revolve. See Swoop, v. i., and cf. Swivel, Squib.]
Etymology [Cf. Swivel.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “swift”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details