This restaurant looks very swish — it even has linen tablecloths.
All the shabby railway buildings in front of the station concourse have either been removed or transformed into a shopping complex and swish homes.2020 June 3, Howard Johnston, “Regional News: Cambridge”, in Rail, page 23:
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Attractive, stylish
When the boys go swish, they always score2004, “Ladyflash”, in Thunder, Lightning, Strike, performed by The Go! Team:
The Saints, who started the day third in the table, went marching on thanks to their own swish play and some staggering defending by the visitors.2014 October 18, Paul Doyle, “Southampton hammer eight past hapless Sunderland in barmy encounter”, in The Guardian:
A short rustling, hissing or whistling sound, often made by friction.
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A hissing, sweeping movement through the air, as of an animal's tail.
As she trotted down the white path, each swish of her tail sent petals dancing through the air, falling where the bride would walk.2011, A. C. August, The Highway Cross, page 116:
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A sound of liquid flowing, especially inside a container.
There were four or five men in the vault already, and I could hear more coming down the passage, and guessed from their heavy footsteps that they were carrying burdens. There was a sound, too, of dumping kegs down on the ground, with a swish of liquor inside them, and then the noise of casks being moved.[1898], J[ohn] Meade Falkner, Moonfleet, London; Toronto, Ont.: Jonathan Cape, published 1934, →OCLC:
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A twig or bundle of twigs, used for administering beatings; a switch
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Ball games, Basketball, Games, Hobbies, Lifestyle, Sports A successful basketball shot that does not touch the rim or backboard.
"Fairies, nances, swishes, fags, lezzes — call 'em what you please — should of course be permitted to earn honest livings […]1992, Leigh W. Rutledge, The gay decades: from Stonewall to the present:
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Slang Effeminacy, effeminate or homosexual demeanor.
He got a little swish downriver.
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Canada, Slang An improvised alcoholic drink made by fermenting whatever ingredients are available.
In the stern of the low-laden canoe his paddle swished steadily and powerfully, with thrust of straight, stiff upper arm backed by a twisting swing of the body from the waist, and with every stroke the little craft leaped as if a giant hand had shoved her forward.1922, A. M. Chisholm, A Thousand a Plate:
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To flourish with a swishing sound.
to swish a cane back and forth
And backward and forward he swish'd his long tail / As a gentleman swishes his cane.1829 [1799], Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Robert Southey, “The Devil's Thoughts”, in The Poetical Works of Coleridge, Shelley, and Keats, Paris: A. and W. Galignani, page 239:
After Virginia came the twins, who were usually called "the Star and Stripes", as they were always getting swished.1906, Oscar Wilde, The Canterville Ghost:
Doctor Wordsworth and assistants would swish that error out of him in a way that need not here be mentioned.c. 1842, William Makepeace Thackeray, Character Sketches:
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Ball games, Basketball, Games, Hobbies, Lifestyle, Sports To make a successful basketball shot that does not touch the rim or backboard.
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LGBTSlang To mince or otherwise to behave in an effeminate manner.
I shall not swish; I'll merely act limp-wristed.
Therefore, I couldn't imagine the men I would be attracted to attracted in turn to someone who was effeminate. Ergo, I'd better not swish — not if I wanted the kind of sexual partners I thought I did.1986, Samuel R. Delany, Joseph Beam, “The Possibility of Possibilities”, in Joseph Beam, editor, In The Life: A Black Gay Anthology, page 191:
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Once you come to grips and accept that you are both feminine and masculine and accept that proudly, the fear can disappear and you can begin to enjoy being you! […] ¶ So you can shed tears at a movie or other significant event, you can swish (I said that) a little or a lot, you can be feminine or masculine or somewhere in-between because you will know, in your heart, this is the real you. […1999 March 23, Rachael, “Dear Rachael 3/99”, in TransGender Forum (offline archive), archived from the original on 25 Oct 2023:
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To cause a liquid to move around in a container, or in one's mouth.
Swish the mouthwash around the mouth and between the teeth for one minute.
Onomatopoeic A hissing or whistling sound of something travelling quickly through the air.
"Just like parade it had been a minute before then stumble, bang, swish! Wiped out!" he said.1898, H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann, page 84:
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Onomatopoeic The sound of a basketball going in the hoop.