Word.ws English Dictionary

swabbing

swabbing is the present participle and gerund of swab.

Meaning of swab

Verb

swab (third-person singular simple present swabs, present participle swabbing, simple past and past participle swabbed)

  1. (transitive) To use a swab on something, or clean something with a swab.
    • swab the deck of a ship

See all 8 meanings of swab

Noun

swabbing (plural swabbings)

  1. The act of one who swabs.
    • Cleanliness on board of a ship is highly necessary for the preservation of the health of seamen; but the custom of frequent swabbings or washings between the decks, as is too frequently practised, is certainly injurious[…]1821, Robert Thomas, The modern practice of physic

Forms of swabbing

pluralswabbings

Phrases with swabbing

Questions about swabbing

What does swabbing mean?
Swabbing means the act of one who swabs.
What is swabbing the present participle and gerund of?
Swabbing is the present participle and gerund of swab.
What part of speech is swabbing?
Swabbing is a noun.
What is the plural of swabbing?
The plural of swabbing is swabbings.

Words near swabbing in the dictionary

  1. swabbed down
  2. swabber
  3. swabbers
  4. swabbie
  5. swabbies
  6. swabbing
  7. swabbing down
  8. swabbings
  9. swabby
  10. Swabe
  11. Swabes

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: swabbing (page history and authors); swab (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “swabbing.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/swabbing. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.