Swimmer

[f. SWIM v. + -ER¹. Cf. MLG. swemmer, also swommer, MHG. swimmer (G. schwimmer), Du. zwemmer.]

  1.  A person (or animal) that swims in the water.

1377.  Langl., P. Pl., B. XII. 167. Þe swymmere þat is sauf bi so hym-self lyke.

1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XIII. xvii. (Bodl. MS.). Swymmers beþ ofte yperissched in swalowes.

1578.  H. Wotton, Courtlie Controv., 135. Y^e swimmer Leander.

1593.  Shaks., Lucr., 1098. The other wild, Like an vnpractiz’d swimmer plunging still, With too much labour drowns for want of skill.

1663.  Dryden, Rival Ladies, Ep. Ded., Ess. (1900), I. 4. Like an ill swimmer, I have willingly staid long in my own depth.

1810.  Scott, Lady of L., II. xxxvii. The swimmer plied each active limb.

1908.  Animal Managem., 140. The horse is a powerful natural swimmer.

  2.  An animal that (habitually) swims, or whose structure is adapted for swimming; spec. a bird of of the order Natatores, a swimming bird.

1399.  Langl., Rich. Redeles, III. 86. Thanne sighed þe swymmers ffor the swan ffailed.

1599.  T. M[oufet], Silkwormes, 44. The whitest Swimmer nature e’re begate, Suspition blacke and iealousie defiles.

1630.  Drumm. of Hawth., Flowres of Sion, Shadow of Judgem., 246. The Woods wilde Forragers doe howle and roare, The humid Swimmers dye along the shoare.

1646.  Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., V. i. 234. In latirostrous or flat bild birdes, which being generally swimmers, the organ is wisely contriv’d unto the action, and they are framed with fins or oares upon their feet.

1718.  Rowe, trans. Lucan, IX. 1214. The Swimmer there the crystal stream pollutes.

1835–6.  Todd’s Cycl. Anat., I. 269/2. The Swimmers [sc. Natatores] … are … recognizable by the structure and position of their oar-like feet.

1872.  Coues, N. Amer. Birds, 14. Among swimmers, the body is always more or less depressed, or flattened horizontally.

  b.  Entom. (a) One of a tribe of spiders (Araneidæ natantes) which live in water; a swimming spider, water-spider. (b) A swimming beetle of the group Hydradephaga or Hydrocanthari.

1815.  Kirby & Sp., Entomol., xiii. (1818), I. 427. Walckenaer’s Swimmers, the last of his grand tribes of spiders.

  3.  The swimming-bladder of a fish. Now dial.

1579.  T. Stevens, in Hakluyt, Voy. (1599), II. II. 99. Which combe standeth vpon a thing almost like the swimmer of a fish in colour and bignesse.

1886.  Elworthy, W. Somerset Word-bk., Swimmer, the air-bladder of a fish. (Always.) In bloaters this silvery-looking purse is very conspicuous.

  † b.  Farriery. A protuberance on the leg of a horse. Obs.

1726[?].  Farrier’s Dict. (Johnson). The swimmer is situated in the fore legs of a horse, above the knees, and upon the inside…; this part is without hair, and resembles a piece of hard dry horn.

  c.  A swimming organ of an animal; esp. an anal appendage in certain aquatic insect larvæ. (Cf. SWIMMERET.)

1816.  Kirby & Sp., Entomol., xxii. (1818), II. 295. There are two descriptions of larvæ of Hydrophili, one furnished with swimmers or anal appendages, by means of which they are enabled to swim.

1828.  J. Fleming, Hist. Brit. Animals, 29. In this animal [sc. the sea-cow], the fore-swimmers (fins or paws) are furnished with the rudiments of nails.

  d.  An appliance for buoying up or supporting something in the water.

1799.  G. Smith, Laboratory, I. 21. How to make Water-rockets, Water-brands, Water-cats, Water-ducks, &c., that turn themselves in the Water…. Having fixed a wooden swimmer below the neck, it [sc. the water-brand] is dipped in wax and pitch, and is ready for use.

  4.  A thing that floats upon the surface of a liquid; spec. an angler’s float; see also quot. 1854.

a. 1609.  Dennis, Secrets Angling, I. xiii. (1613), B iij. Then take good Corke, as much as shall suffice, For every Line to make his swimmer fit.

1664.  Evelyn, Sylva, vii. 24. Let the Nuts be first spread to sweat;… a Moneth being past, plunge them in Water, reject the Swimmers.

1837.  Carlyle, Fr. Rev., II. I. iii. Shall we say, the Revolution-element works itself rarer and rarer; so that only lighter and lighter bodies will float in it; till at last the mere blown-bladder is your only swimmer?

1854.  Miss Baker, Northampt. Gloss., Swimmer, a wooden trencher, or two short pieces of flat wood nailed across floating upon a bucket of water to prevent its washing over as it is carried along.

  b.  Brewing. A vessel containing ice or iced water floating on the wort in a fermenting-tun. (Cf. G. schwimmer.)

1881.  Wershoven, Techn. Voc. Eng.-Fr., 263. The fermenting tun, the gyle tun, la cuve guilloire, the swimmer, le flotteur.

  † 5.  A cup or goblet ‘swimming’ or brimming over; a ‘bumper.’ Obs.

1682.  N. O., Boileau’s Lutrin, I. 180. [He] takes himself a lusty Beer-bowl brimmer Of Racy Claret, and Commends a Swimmer To the good Company.

1706.  Barnes, in Hearne, Collect., 18 July (O. H. S.), I. 273. Some Brimmer And Swimmer, W^th Nectar shall flow.

  † 6.  slang. (See quots.) Obs.

a. 1700.  B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, Swimmer, a Counterfeit (old) Coyn.

1812.  J. H. Vaux, Flash Dict., Swimmer, a guard-ship, or tender; a thief who escapes prosecution, when before a magistrate, on condition of being sent on board the receiving-ship, to serve His Majesty, is said by his palls to be swimmered.

  Hence † Swimmer v. (see quot. 1812 above).