swipe
1 of 2verb/swaɪp/
Forms:swipes,swiping,swiped,swiped
1
to hit or strike something with a sweeping motion
- The cat swiped at the dangling toy with its paw.
- Frustrated with the mosquito, he swiped at it with a quick motion of his hand.
- The baseball player swiped at the ball with a powerful swing.
- The boxer skillfully swiped at his opponent, landing a powerful blow to the body.
2
to steal or take something
transitive- The thief swiped my wallet from my bag while I wasn’t looking.
- He swiped a few snacks from the store without paying.
- He managed to swipe a couple of pieces of jewelry from the display case.
- The burglar swiped a valuable painting from the gallery.
- They swiped the keys from the counter when no one was paying attention.
3
to move a finger or hand across a touchscreen, trackpad, or other touch-sensitive surface in order to perform an action or navigate a digital interface
- To unlock the phone, simply swipe right on the screen.
- She swiped through the photo gallery, admiring her vacation pictures.
- He quickly swiped up to refresh his social media feed.
- The game required players to swipe left or right to dodge obstacles.
- Swiping down revealed the notification panel with important alerts.
4
to pass a card or object through a machine or device that reads the information encoded on it, usually by sliding it through a slot
transitive- She swiped her credit card to pay for the meal.
- He quickly swiped his ID card at the entrance to the building.
- You need to swipe your library card to check out the books.
- The cashier asked me to swipe my debit card to complete the purchase.
- She swiped the key card to open the hotel room door.