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Swab   Listen
noun
Swab  n.  
1.
A kind of mop for cleaning floors, the desks of vessels, etc., esp. one made of rope-yarns or threads.
2.
A bit of sponge, cloth, or the like, fastened to a handle, for cleansing the mouth of a sick person, applying medicaments to deep-seated parts, etc.
3.
(Naut.) An epaulet. (Sailor's Slang)
4.
A cod, or pod, as of beans or pease. (Obs.)
5.
A sponge, or other suitable substance, attached to a long rod or handle, for cleaning the bore of a firearm.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Swab" Quotes from Famous Books



... swab quit comin' here to see you," declared Judah. "Runnin' in here and lettin' go anchor and settin' round and sayin', 'Well, how goes it to-day?' and 'Nice spell of weather we're havin',' and the like of that, and then goin' home and chalkin' ...
— Fair Harbor • Joseph Crosby Lincoln

... talk," declared Oliver. "I said I'd take you out with me to the Islands and give you a taste for fresh air and salt water and exercise. I'll teach you how to sail a schooner and how to go about barefoot and swab decks." ...
— The Literary World Seventh Reader • Various

... and show Doctor Price your arms and legs," I said contemptuously and spitefully; for, to use a common phrase, my monkey was up. "Fight? With fists? Where are your muscles? Why, I could upset you both with a swab." ...
— Blue Jackets - The Log of the Teaser • George Manville Fenn

... why there be nothing to do, 'less they shave off the beard of the grand Turk to make a swab for the cabin of the king's yacht, and sarve out his seven hundred wives amongst the fleet. I say, I wonder how he keeps so many of ...
— Newton Forster • Frederick Marryat

... domestic labor is so frequently done in a negligent manner, by domestics, as this. A full supply of conveniences will do much toward the remedy of this evil. A swab, made of strips of linen tied to a stick, is useful to wash nice dishes, especially small, deep articles. Two or three towels, and three dish-cloths should be used. Two large tin tubs, painted on the outside, should be provided; one for ...
— The American Woman's Home • Catherine E. Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe

... for 30 minutes, then pour out the solution, remove the hose and breech plug, and swab out thoroughly with soda solution to neutralize and remove all trace ...
— Manual of Military Training - Second, Revised Edition • James A. Moss

... 't were the shop,—an' went to Baltimore. I shipped aboard the Lizzie—or she might ha' bin the Jane; Them wimmin names are mixey, so I don't remember plain; But anyhow, she were a craft that carried schooner rig, (Although Sam Swab, the bo'sun, allus swore she were a brig); We sailed away from Salem Town,—no, lemme think;—'t were Lynn,— An' steered a course for Africa (or Greece, it might ha' bin); But anyway, we tacked an' backed an' weathered many a storm— Oh, no,—as I recall it now, that week was fine ...
— The Book of Humorous Verse • Various

... caught sight of Audrey, and transformed himself instantaneously into what she had hitherto imagined a chauffeur always was; but in those few moments she had learnt that the essence of a chauffeur is godlike, and that he toils not, neither does he swab. ...
— The Lion's Share • E. Arnold Bennett

... about 7:30 P. M.. At 8:15 the whole front as here described was blazing and at its full height. My windows were so hot that I could not bear my hand on them. I opened one and felt the woodwork, which was equally hot. I had buckets of water in the front and rear rooms, with an improvised swab, made by tying up a feather duster, ready to put out any small fire which would be within my reach. I watched the situation for an hour, and as the flames died down a little I had hope, and at 10 P. M. I felt satisfied that it would not cross Van Ness Avenue, and ...
— San Francisco During the Eventful Days of April, 1906 • James B. Stetson

... cauterizing solution by means of a cotton swab wrapped round the end of a sound may be of service in patients who refuse the actual cautery. To be successful the application must be firmly made and must be ...
— Old-Time Makers of Medicine • James J. Walsh

... observe anything in the bustle of our putting out from Yarmouth. The ship was not yet clear of the confusion of her hurried refitting and revictualling. Stores lay about which needed stowing; there were new sails to bend and old ropes to splice; there were decks to swab and guns to polish, hammocks to sling, and ammunition to give out. Yet all worked with so hearty a will, and looked forward so joyously, after eighteen weeks' idleness, to a brush with the enemy, that before sundown ...
— Kilgorman - A Story of Ireland in 1798 • Talbot Baines Reed

... attended the house. The doctor took a look at my arm, and recommended an operation, as the lump would continue to increase, and was already so large as to be inconvenient. I cannot say that it hurt me any, though it was an awkward sort of swab to be carrying on a fellow's shoulder. I had no great relish for being carved, and think I should have refused to submit to the operation, were it not for James, who told me he would not be carrying Bunker Hill about on his arm, and would show me his own stump by way of ...
— Ned Myers • James Fenimore Cooper

... scuppers washin' red. They asked no quarter an' on we went, up an' down decks, give an' take. At the last, six men o' them surrendered. The rest—eighty from the one ship—we fed to the sharks before we could swab decks next day. Eh, but that was a v'yage, an' it cost the seas more good buccaneers than ever was hanged. Harris an' Sawkins an' half o' their best men we left on the Isthmus. But out of one galleon we took fifty thousand pieces-of-eight, besides silver bars in cord piles. ...
— The Black Buccaneer • Stephen W. Meader

... tents are observed in the orchard they should be destroyed, which may be readily and effectually done by climbing the trees, and with the hand protected by a mitten or glove, seize the tent and crush it with its entire contents; also swab them down with strong soapsuds or other substances; or tear them down with a rounded ...
— Scientific American Supplement, No. 803, May 23, 1891 • Various

... save his leg," said Dr. Barnes, grinning at last. "But don't let this occur again, my Christian friend. This will lay you up for two or three weeks the best way it can happen, in all likelihood. Well, I'll swab it out and tie it up, and give you some iodine. Keep it painted. How big do the grayling go up ...
— The Sagebrusher - A Story of the West • Emerson Hough

... it properly. For when once you begin tampering with the inviolable nature of a mail-cart, where are you to stop? Suppose your chance passenger proves to be not an honest subject, but a malefactor—one of a gang. "Take that, ye swab." A clump on the side of his head, and the driver is sent endways from the box-seat; the cart gallops on to where the, rest of the gang lurk waiting for it; strong arms, long legs, and the monstrous deed is consummated. Her ...
— The Devil's Garden • W. B. Maxwell

... Tony, jumping the gate as I went through it, "get busy with this situation. We've got almost a half-hour, so be doing something, everybody. Belle, you help Roxy skin that kid and get him into clean clothes while I swab up and light old Pomp's jimson-weed pipe for him?" And as Tony spoke he started to the rear of ...
— Phyllis • Maria Thompson Daviess

... all right, Cap'n Dott. Don't you worry about Zuby and me. We'll boss this end of the craft; you 'tend to the rest of it. Say, that Hungerford swab ain't come ...
— Cap'n Dan's Daughter • Joseph C. Lincoln

... swab up that part of the carpet when you came in," said Zack, apologetically, as he led Mr. Blyth to ...
— Hide and Seek • Wilkie Collins

... wonder if some one down the street had got him tied to the end of a pole and is using him to swab off his windows," said Abe Lincoln with a good-natured laugh. "I'll try to find him ...
— A Man for the Ages - A Story of the Builders of Democracy • Irving Bacheller

... get down to cases, as the preachers says: Old Andy he don't cantankerate none noticeable. When he feels needful of a jamboree he goes down to the bank an' fills his pockets an' a couple of valises with change, an' gum-shoes down to John D. Swab's, an' they hunt up Charley Carnage an' a couple of senators an' a rack of chips an' they finds 'em a back room, pulls off their collars an' coats an' goes to it. They ain't no kitty only to cover the needful expenses of drinks, eats, an' smokes—an' everything ...
— The Texan - A Story of the Cattle Country • James B. Hendryx

... "There, you swab," said the old man, "that'll larn you to break another time." Then he took once more his place in the patrol round the mob. They circled and eddied and pushed, always staring angrily at the riders. Suddenly a big, red bullock gave a snort of defiance, and came ...
— An Outback Marriage • Andrew Barton Paterson

... had called him to her, and: "Well, what you say goes, Laura," he muttered at the end of a long hour of human passion and its repression. "If he's to go scot-free, then he's got to go; but the boys yonder'll drop on me, if he gets away. Can't you see what a swab he is, Laura?" ...
— The Judgment House • Gilbert Parker

... that Mr. McGowan had been using was on the floor, and your pa's heel hit it. His cane went up and he went down. His high hat took a swim in a bucket of soapy water that the parson had been using to swab ...
— Captain Pott's Minister • Francis L. Cooper

... notice of the sale of "teeth brushes" till nearly Revolutionary times. Perhaps the colonists used, as in old England, little brushes made of "dentissick root" or mallow, chewed into a fibrous swab. ...
— Customs and Fashions in Old New England • Alice Morse Earle

... blanked heads down there, blank his soul, but did the condemned sailors think you could keep steam up in the God-forsaken boilers simply by knocking the blanked stokers about? No, by George! You had to get some draught, too—may he be everlastingly blanked for a swab-headed deck-hand if you didn't! And the chief, too, rampaging before the steam-gauge and carrying on like a lunatic up and down the engine-room ever since noon. What did Jukes think he was stuck up there for, if he couldn't get one of his decayed, good-for-nothing ...
— Typhoon • Joseph Conrad

... break your heart for a dirty swab like that," he said, with more of insistence than interrogation in his voice. "Look you here, Columbine! You're too honest to care for a beast like that. Why—though I pulled him out of the quicksand and saved him from the sea—I'd have wrung his neck if he'd stayed ...
— The Tidal Wave and Other Stories • Ethel May Dell

... candle or | lamp trimmed and primed, but | provided for gun-decks only; none |In the fire-buckets. The candle in for spar-decks | supply box. | Battle-axes (as prescribed according | to the number of men at gun).— | See Art. 101 |Inside of the brackets. | One hand-swab |On the breast-piece of the | carriage. | One deck-bucket and large swab |To be kept in the hold until wanted. | Two chocking-quoins for |When not in use, between the truck-carriages | brackets and the bed. | Two lanyards for each half port |In ...
— Ordnance Instructions for the United States Navy. - 1866. Fourth edition. • Bureau of Ordnance, USN

... in the face and, as he shook his head with an evil grin, according to his custom when well struck, he found it followed practically instantaneously by another. The swab was about the quickest thing that ever got into a ring. He was like one of these bloomin', tricky, jack-in-the-box featherweights, instead of a steady lumbering "heavy". And the Gorilla allowed himself ...
— Snake and Sword - A Novel • Percival Christopher Wren

... sulphuric acid. The results were favorable from the very start. The warts rapidly shrunk away and finally disappeared entirely. The acid is applied to the crown of the wart with a small swab or similar instrument, and only in sufficient quantities to wet the crown surface of the wart. It should be applied about three times a week until the wart is well reduced. Don't use too much acid, and don't keep up the application too long - ...
— One Thousand Questions in California Agriculture Answered • E.J. Wickson

... up, and yet it looked like sheer Waste to lavish so much Collateral on the upkeep of a Physical Swab. ...
— Ade's Fables • George Ade

... is thy lime-kiln, that we may swab off the dark blemishes of the hour!! Aye, and on the whited wall, draw thee a picture of power and beauty Cleveland, for instance, thanking the peoples party for all the favors gratuitously granted by our mongrel saints in speckled ...
— The Agrarian Crusade - A Chronicle of the Farmer in Politics • Solon J. Buck

... can make your herd of sheep give me a hand at the right time, I'll show you that a tin-kettle sailor is as good as a wind-jammer swab," said Mayo, retaliating with some of the same sort of rancor that Captain Downs had been expending. In that crisis he was bold enough to presume on his identity as a master mariner. "I'd hate to find this ...
— Blow The Man Down - A Romance Of The Coast - 1916 • Holman Day

... you if you vas, you seven-foot stock-fish,' cried my enemy the cooper, whose aspect was not improved by a great strip of plaster over his eye. 'You might have learned something petter than to pull on a rope, or to swab decks like a vrouw ...
— Micah Clarke - His Statement as made to his three Grandchildren Joseph, - Gervas and Reuben During the Hard Winter of 1734 • Arthur Conan Doyle

... bore after firing it is well to proceed as follows: Swab out the bore with soda solution (subparagraph j) to remove powder fouling. A convenient method is to insert the muzzle of the rifle into the can containing the soda solution and, with the cleaning rod inserted from the breech, pump the barrel full a few times. Remove and dry with a couple of ...
— Manual for Noncommissioned Officers and Privates of Infantry • War Department

... drawn from the drag or nowel part of the mould by means of a spike and rapper wielded by the moulder's hand after cope and drag have been rammed together on a "squeezer" and cope has been removed. Frequently the pernicious "swab" is used to soak and so strengthen joint outlines of the sand before drawing patterns, in such cases as this. In this case, before cope is lifted, these patterns must be vigorously rapped through the cope; an amount depending (and so does the size of the casting) ...
— Scientific American Supplement, No. 1157, March 5, 1898 • Various

... spoke Dr. Rathby. "But of course I understand. I have a mixture that some singers have used with good effect. I'll try it on you. You can use it several times to-night, and on your way to rehearsal stop in at my office in the morning, and I'll swab out your throat. That may ...
— The Moving Picture Girls - First Appearances in Photo Dramas • Laura Lee Hope

... tin, and brass Tallow Melted Lead and brass Muriatic acid (reduced) With swab Copper, galvanized iron and brass Muriatic acid (raw) With swab ...
— Elements of Plumbing • Samuel Dibble

... knave of clubs, ace and duce of trumps, at whist: also the lubberly seamen, put to swab, ...
— 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue • Captain Grose et al.

... do call this sickening," cried Bob. "That's just my luck. Look here, Taters. I should just like to peel you and give you three dozen, you nasty black-looking, ungrateful swab. Hi! jump up! Here comes old Staples. Now then, both ...
— The Black Bar • George Manville Fenn

... "We shan't have any more trouble with that lot, I think. You warned that pirate—I wish he had been in truth a clean, honest, straightforward pirate, instead of the measly Turkish swab he was—that something might occur before the first stroke of six bells. Well, something has occurred, and for him and all his crew that six bells will never sound. So the Lord fights for the Cross against the Crescent! Bismillah. Amen!" ...
— The Lady of the Shroud • Bram Stoker

... white bull made up his mind to attack again, instead of charging madly to swab his foe off the earth, he moved forward at a brisk stride, ready to check himself on the instant and block the enemy's side stroke. Within a couple of yards of his opponent he stopped short. The latter stood ...
— The House in the Water - A Book of Animal Stories • Charles G. D. Roberts

... couldn't hurt HER. But I held her with one hand, she feeling dead and cold, like a wet deck-swab; then the old cook-woman undid my flash man's long hair, and, twining her skinny old claws in it, pulled it taut, while I sawed at the chap's neck with my right hand. The knife was heavy and sharp, and I soon got the job through. Then I gave the ...
— By Reef and Palm • Louis Becke

... indicates lack of lubrication, and by cleaning and oiling the swab the trouble may be overcome. However, there are times when leakage by the packing is so great that the oil is blown off the swab as fast as it is applied, therefore is of no value in lubricating the parts. Where this condition exists, a ...
— The Traveling Engineers' Association - To Improve The Locomotive Engine Service of American Railroads • Anonymous

... ease with which proper drainage may be effected. No special after-care is necessary if drainage is perfect, except that one should avoid injecting the wound cavity with aqueous solutions unless it be absolutely necessary to cleanse such cavity, and then it is best to swab the wound rather than to irrigate ...
— Lameness of the Horse - Veterinary Practitioners' Series, No. 1 • John Victor Lacroix

... a pail, and apparently varnishing the chairs with a little swab as he moved swiftly about the room; and, as he came nearer, Davy determined ...
— Davy and The Goblin - What Followed Reading 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' • Charles E. Carryl

... entered the private hospital. Around a quadrangle, laid out in gardens beds there was a range of low two story buildings. Some bleached sailors, in duck trowsers and blue jackets, were about; one was reading a song-book, another his Bible, and a third was busily making a marine swab out of ropes' ends. Among the convalescents, out on the balconies to catch a breath of the pure air, was a naval officer in a gilt cap, reading a novel; and all looked snug and encouraging. On entering, I asked the attendant, ...
— Gifts of Genius - A Miscellany of Prose and Poetry by American Authors • Various

... somewhere—smell it? Seems to me like an old mat or summat. It's that swab of a steward, maybe; if he isn't breaking glass, he's upsetting lamps and burning holes in the carpet. Bless MY soul, I'd sooner have a dozen Mary Anns an' their dustpans round the place than one tomfool steward like Jenkins." He went to ...
— The Blue Lagoon - A Romance • H. de Vere Stacpoole

... fear I'd be late, and I jumped oot to see what was wrang. I clean forgot I was in the costume for my first song at the new hall—it had been my last, tae, at the Tiv. I was wearin' kilt, glengarry, and all the costume for the swab germ' corporal o' Hielanders in "She's Ma Daisy." D'ye mind the song? Then ye'll ken hoo I lookit, oot there on the Embankment, wi' the lichts shinin' doon on me and a', and me dancin' aroond in a fever o' impatience to ...
— Between You and Me • Sir Harry Lauder

... open space between the poles and the dungeon with a kind of sea-weed swab dipped in the waters of the boiling vat, then with a bit of the coarse brown cloth washed ...
— Darkness and Dawn • George Allan England

... a little rest. Better finish the job completely while you are about it. You will appreciate leisure so much more later. In lack of a wash-rag you will find that a bunch of tall grass bent double makes an ideal swab. ...
— The Forest • Stewart Edward White

... I used to talk about I 'the un-tubbed.' Now I mean, merely for the sake of example, to shave twice in the month, and swab myself off between whiles. It's not for comfort, I assure you. It's my belief that an occasional bath is worse than none. It merely stirs up memories of the buried past, and aspirations that can't be fulfilled. However—" And Carew, the quondam exquisite, pulled off his socks and ...
— On the Firing Line • Anna Chapin Ray and Hamilton Brock Fuller

... holding the pistol in his hand he gave me several more cuts, and then told me to swab the deck. I did it, pretending all the time I was scarce strong enough to keep my feet. Then I made my way forward and sat down against the bulwark, as if nigh done up, till night came. That night ...
— By Sheer Pluck - A Tale of the Ashanti War • G. A. Henty

... maimer and his ship manner, the manner with which he worked the Francis Cadman—and it was a mere step from one to the other. For a moment he was perilously near assuming his natural and most successful manner, blasting Done to the depths for a high-stomached, adjectival swab, and commanding him out of hand to accept the proposed honours and emoluments with proper respect and gratitude, and be ...
— In the Roaring Fifties • Edward Dyson

... Swab down these stairs. The mess of blood about Makes 'em so slippery that one's like to fall In carrying the wounded ...
— The Dynasts - An Epic-Drama Of The War With Napoleon, In Three Parts, - Nineteen Acts, And One Hundred And Thirty Scenes • Thomas Hardy

... brushing should be done lightly and the strokes should follow the ridge design in order to clean not only the ridges but the depressions as well. In the event that the skin is not firm enough to use the toothbrush, a cotton swab may be used. The fingers should be wiped very lightly with either soap and water or xylene, always following ...
— The Science of Fingerprints - Classification and Uses • Federal Bureau of Investigation

... practised ear told her that the stevedores were ceasing work, and she bustled up the ladder to summon her crew to swab decks. The old man, left alone with the children, leaned forward, jerked a thumb after her, and said impressively, ...
— Shining Ferry • Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch

... dog which has taken a fancy to worry her. Captain Helfrich had hitherto taken no notice whatever of me, and he seemed to me so awful a person, that I never expected to be spoken to by him. Now and then the mates ordered me to do some little job or other, to fetch a swab or a marlinespike, or to hold a paint-pot, but they in ...
— Old Jack • W.H.G. Kingston

... you won't call up any of the crew. You'll get a swab and do it yourself. You'll get a hand swab and get down on your knees, damn you! I'll ...
— The Mystery • Stewart Edward White and Samuel Hopkins Adams

... ugly old gorilla!" exclaimed the girl, unceremoniously and disdainfully. "I can get better-looking lovers than either a monkey or a Swab, I'd have you to ...
— Monte-Cristo's Daughter • Edmund Flagg

... I beheld the scene, but I said nothing. I considered myself too fortunate to escape with life. When it was all over, the boatswain roared out, "That job's done! Now, Mr Barber, swab up all this here blood, and be d——d to you! and recollect that you are one of us." I obeyed in fear and silence, and then returned to my former station near ...
— The Pacha of Many Tales • Captain Frederick Marryat

... them on because we did not want to be impressed by the first ship that came in, but preferred to wait a bit till we saw one to suit us. I see, sir, that you have shipped a swab. That means, of course, that you have got a lieutenancy. I congratulate you indeed, sir, on ...
— By Conduct and Courage • G. A. Henty

... who had asked the question. "Come on, Mike. And you—you young swab—mind you don't let a soul come near here while we're gone; if you do, Ralli'll just skin yer. ...
— The Pirate Island - A Story of the South Pacific • Harry Collingwood

... on and on. Terry, still wrapped in his blanket, sat before him looking up with an absurdly rapt air as of a student at his master's feet. Merchant stopped to swab the thick perspiration from his face, laughed at Terry's humbugging pose, and desisted. Terry slipped on his shoes, buckled on the leather leggings he had used as a pillow and picking up his saddlebags went out to clean ...
— Terry - A Tale of the Hill People • Charles Goff Thomson

... her over the dirty pavement, where dogs have been, and chewers of tobacco, and everything concerned with filth except a scavenger. At every hundred yards some unhappy man treads upon the silken swab which she trails behind her—loosening it dreadfully at the girth one would say; and then see the style of face and the expression of features with which she accepts the sinner's half muttered apology. The world, she ...
— Volume 1 • Anthony Trollope

... her! Gad, her sides be battered like an old penny piece; the shot be still sticking in her wales, and her sails be like so many clap-nets: we have run all the way home under jury topmasts; and as for her decks, you may swab wi' hot water, and you may swab wi' cold, but there's the blood-stains, and there they'll bide. . . . The Cap'n had a narrow escape, like many o' the rest—a shot shaved his ankle like a razor. You should have seen that man's face in the het ...
— The Trumpet-Major • Thomas Hardy

... found that coitus had never taken place. The hymen was intact. This was at the time we studied the case. On the day of the trial, I with two other physicians examined the girl. It was found that a cotton swab about 3/8 of an inch in diameter could with difficulty penetrate the vaginal orifice. There was not the slightest evidence of any rupture of the hymen or of any vaginitis. So far as the "awful disease'' was concerned, repeated bacteriological tests over a considerable ...
— Pathology of Lying, Etc. • William and Mary Healy

... grass, and began to fill his pipe. "You do come out in the way o' moderation rather powerful. Why a teal duck an' a ven'son steak is barely enough to stop a feller dyin' right off. I guess a down-east baby o' six months old 'ud swab up ...
— The Wild Man of the West - A Tale of the Rocky Mountains • R.M. Ballantyne

... "You found it. And yo're going back after more?" His forehead was still creased with puzzlement. "Wal, I'm going with ye, eyes or no eyes, an' I'll keep tabs on ye, Bill Simms, by day and night. You can lay to that, you slimy-hearted swab!" ...
— A Man to His Mate • J. Allan Dunn

... all out till I came here. I wish I hadn't sold out. I guess I'm best fitted for running mines or herding cattle, Dan. And I'm leaving all the boys who know me for those who don't—and I don't git on with folks who don't know me. God knows what persuaded me to sell to that macaroni-eating swab. But it's done, and there ain't no manner of good ...
— Colorado Jim • George Goodchild

... Hallett. "You're a slick article, ain't you, Raish? Why, you wooden-headed swab, did you cal'late you was the only one that had heard about the directors' meetin' over to the Denboro Trust Company yesterday? I knew the Trust Company folks had decided not to go ahead with the fish storage business just as well as you did, and ...
— Galusha the Magnificent • Joseph C. Lincoln

... cuddling my arm, stepped back to the wharf. Miss Butt was sitting on the cabin skylight reading a book, and old Joe, the cook, was standing near 'er pretending to swab the ...
— Night Watches • W.W. Jacobs

... rope-yarns sometimes secured to the tompion, saturated with water to cool the gun in action, and swab up ...
— The Sailor's Word-Book • William Henry Smyth

... Ah say to de man ahead o' me, 'huccome dat white man don't bus' dat damn yeller swab ...
— Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States - From Interviews with Former Slaves - Florida Narratives • Works Projects Administration

... promotion. Whether through age, fault, misfortune or lack of influence in high places, the officers who directed it were generally disappointed men, service derelicts whose chances of ever sporting a second "swab," or of again commanding a ship, had practically vanished. Naval men afloat spoke of them with good-natured contempt as "Yellow Admirals," the fictitious rank denoting a kind of service quarantine that ...
— The Press-Gang Afloat and Ashore • John R. Hutchinson

... came crashing round us, one tearing through the mainsail below me, another mangling two men in the waist of our schooner, and Griggs gave the order to touch off. But two of his guns answered, one of which had been so gorged with shot that it burst in a hundred pieces and sent the fellow with the swab to perdition, and such a hell of blood and confusion as resulted is indescribable. I saw Griggs in a wild fit of rage force the helm down, the schooner flying into the wind. And by this time, the brigantine having got round and ...
— The Crossing • Winston Churchill

... Oh, if I had my scissors here till I'd clip your ears off—wouldn't I be the happy man, any how, you swab, you?' (whack, whack, crack). ...
— The Ned M'Keown Stories - Traits And Stories Of The Irish Peasantry, The Works of - William Carleton, Volume Three • William Carleton

... true," said the gallant mariner, reaching for his tobacco pouch, "I think it would be as well to swab her down with liniment. There's a bottle of it in my cabin. Better suggest ...
— The Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce, Volume 8 - Epigrams, On With the Dance, Negligible Tales • Ambrose Bierce

... this once," growled the other, scrawling his name on the note; "but if this swab ain't up to sample, he'll come back by freight, an' I'll drop in on mee dear friend Jim when we come back and give him a reel nice time, an' you can lay to that, Billy Trim." The brown sweater pocketed the note, went over the side, and ...
— Moran of the Lady Letty • Frank Norris

... smaller bronchi during cough. The aspirating bronchoscopes should be used whenever their very slight additional area of cross-section is unobjectionable. In most cases, however, the most advantageous way to remove bronchial secretion has been found to be by introducing a gauze swab on a long sponge carrier (Fig. 14), so that the sponge extends beyond the distal end of the bronchoscope, causing cough. Then withdrawal of the sponge carrier will remove all of the secretion in the tube just ...
— Bronchoscopy and Esophagoscopy - A Manual of Peroral Endoscopy and Laryngeal Surgery • Chevalier Jackson

... blind. Cute old codger. No use canvassing him for an ad. Still he knows his own business best. There he is, sure enough, my bold Larry, leaning against the sugarbin in his shirtsleeves watching the aproned curate swab up with mop and bucket. Simon Dedalus takes him off to a tee with his eyes screwed up. Do you know what I'm going to tell you? What's that, Mr O'Rourke? Do you know what? The Russians, they'd only be an eight o'clock ...
— Ulysses • James Joyce

... "Swab the spray from your bowsprit, my good lad, and coil up your spirits. Many a better man has foundered before he has made half my way; though I trust, by the mercy of God, I shall be sure in port in a very few glasses, and fast moored in a most blessed riding; for my good friend Jolter hath overhauled ...
— The World's Greatest Books, Vol VIII • Arthur Mee and J.A. Hammerton, Eds.

... wife drew her chair to the other end; Tottie, feeling very proud and rather nervous, sat between them, with a new quill in her hand, and a spotless sheet of foolscap before her. The Bu'ster stood by with the blot-sheet, looking eager, as if he rather wished for blots, and was prepared to swab them up ...
— Shifting Winds - A Tough Yarn • R.M. Ballantyne

... we had both mastered the reef-knot, and had tried our hand at others—the bowline, the figure of eight, the Carrick-bend, and the old swab-hitch. He was very patient with us. He told us exactly how each knot would be used at sea, and when, and why, and what the officers would say, and how things would look on deck while they were in the doing. The time ...
— Jim Davis • John Masefield

... his shells were gas which glazed the feed lamps and the sight of the lenses, as well as accumulating in the inside of the gun muzzle, making it necessary to swab out the muzzle of the gun before using, as otherwise it would rust badly, which would result in putting the gun out of commission in short order. The fire developed into a first-class artillery duel, our battery ...
— S.O.S. Stand to! • Reginald Grant

... tinged with yellow, and only raising the temperature to the highest point when ready to blow the glass. This kind of devitrification is apparently due to volatilization of the alkalies from the glass in the flame, and it is said that it can be partly remedied or prevented by holding a swab of cotton saturated with a strong solution of common salt in the flame from time to time ...
— Laboratory Manual of Glass-Blowing • Francis C. Frary

... declivities of the hills. In the city, burthens are drawn by oxen, on little drags, which glide easily over the smooth, round pavements. The driver carries in his hand a long mop without a handle, or what a sailor would term a "wet swab." If any difficulty occur in drawing the load, this moist mop is thrown before the drag, which readily glides ...
— Journal of an African Cruiser • Horatio Bridge

... the antitoxin at the proper stage of the disease, early recognition is important, and fortunately science here can be of great service. By wiping out the throat with a sterilized swab of cotton, the bacteria present in the throat, if any, will adhere and may be wiped off onto a gelatine substance in which the germs can grow. In twelve hours, they will have developed, if present, so that with a microscope they can be positively recognized. In Massachusetts, ...
— Rural Hygiene • Henry N. Ogden

... has been in operation a few days, a green coating will begin to form on the glass. This is a minute plant that is developed by the action of light. It can be removed by means of a swab. In all other parts of your aquarium allow it to grow, as it is the favorite ...
— Harper's Young People, August 24, 1880 - An Illustrated Weekly • Various

... Master Blob!" muttered the Parson between clenched teeth. "I'll swab that boy's soul clean if I have to do it with a scrubbing-brush.... Now, Knapp, ready yourself, while I write a ...
— The Gentleman - A Romance of the Sea • Alfred Ollivant

... you stop ? " she said through her clenched teeth. " Do you think I want to listen to your everlasting twaddle about her? Why, she's-she's no better than other people, you ignorant little mamma's boy. She's no better than other people, you swab! " ...
— Active Service • Stephen Crane

... his voice kind of breakin' up. "That's what I want to forget, how—how late it is!" and hanged if he don't have to fish out a handkerchief and swab off his eyes. "You see," he goes on, ...
— Odd Numbers - Being Further Chronicles of Shorty McCabe • Sewell Ford

... procured several pails of water and a long-handled swab and with these did what he could to extinguish the fire on the sails. Several of the others joined in, and inside of ten minutes all danger of ...
— The Rover Boys on the Ocean • Arthur M. Winfield

... said Tom Coxswain. "There was a woman in our aft-scuppers when I went a-whalin in the little 'Grampus'—and Lord love you, Pumpo, you poor land-swab, she WAS as pretty a craft as ever dowsed a tarpauling—there was a woman on board the 'Grampus,' who before we'd struck our first fish, or biled our first blubber, set the whole crew in a mutiny. I mind me of her now, Natty,—her eye was sich a piercer that ...
— Burlesques • William Makepeace Thackeray

... like, with a wash-up like a small mountain, which the masalchi disposes of behind the pantry door on a yard or two of bamboo matting, with an earthen gumla, a kettle of boiling water, and an unthinkable swab! An English ...
— Banked Fires • E. W. (Ethel Winifred) Savi

... mind that. I have n't got anything you are used to. I just take them down to the stream and swab them off with a ...
— The Wrong Woman • Charles D. Stewart

... different matter. He had issued forth on the enterprise, cased in tight blue pantaloons that fitted him like his skin, over which were drawn long well-polished Hessian boots, each with a formidable tassel at top, and his coat was buttoned close up to the chin, with a blaz-, ing swab on the right shoulder, while a laced cocked hat and dress sword completed his equipment. But, alas! when we were accounted for on board of the old Torch, there was a fearful dilapidation of his external man. First of all, his inexpressibles were absolutely tom into shreds by the ...
— Tom Cringle's Log • Michael Scott

... knowing lid, Hitches his breeches and shifts his quid "Hey? What is it? Who 's come to grief Louder, young swab, ...
— The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Complete • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

... glance from a corner of my eye. Sweat was rolling down her smooth forehead faster than the auto-wiper could swab it away. ...
— The Hunted Heroes • Robert Silverberg

... method is by the use of a swab made by twisting a bit of absorbent cotton upon a wooden toothpick. With this the folds between the gums and lips and cheeks may be gently and carefully cleansed twice a day unless the mouth is sore. It is not ...
— The Care and Feeding of Children - A Catechism for the Use of Mothers and Children's Nurses • L. Emmett Holt

... he isn't dead yet. And like as not this swab Henkel may get wiped out before he has the chance of doing ...
— On Land And Sea At The Dardanelles • Thomas Charles Bridges



Words linked to "Swab" :   sponge mop, swob, put on, cleaning equipment, dust mop, apply, dab, cleaning device, wipe up, dustmop, implement, mop handle, mop, cleaning implement, swabbing, mop up



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