swatch
UK/swɒtʃ//swɔt͡ʃ/
swatch noun: a piece, pattern, or sample, generally of cloth or a similar material.
Noun (1)
swatch (plural swatches)
- A piece, pattern, or sample, generally of cloth or a similar material.
- He held a swatch of the wallpaper up to see if the colors would match the room.
- [...] I beg you will go to Bailie Delap's shop, and get patterns of his best black bombaseen, and crape, and muslin, and bring them over to the parsonage, the morn's morning. [...] You will get, likewise, swatches of mourning print, with the lowest prices.1821 June, “Art. XVIII. The Ayrshire Legatees, or the Correspondence of the Pringle Family. From Blackwood's Magazine”, in John E[lihu] Hall, editor, The Port Folio, volume XI, number 234...
- A selection of such samples bound together.
- “Aisha, access the Pupa's informational color swatches. Okay, royal blue means the Pupa has kennel cough, cornflower blue means one of us just had a sex dream about the other one, navy blue means his Hulu plan is expiring, robin's egg blue means we get a free Xbox, Pacific blue means we all die at...2021 March 26, Josh Bycel & Jen McCartney, “The Solar Opposites Almost Get an Xbox” (1:25 from the start), in Solar Opposites, season 2, episode 8, spoken by Korvo Opposites (Justin Roiland)
- A clump or portion of something.
- I found myself truly moved by a stage event for the first time in years. I found myself humming tunes that one might not rightfully call tunes. Days later, I still remember these musical phrasings in little swatches of sound.1977 August 13, Jim Marko, “Swados' Rare and Moving Nightclub Cantata”, in Gay Community News, volume 5, number 6, page 11
- Mix ultramarine blue and alizarin crimson in your palette until you get a rich purple, then paint a swatch on dry watercolor paper [...]. Next paint a swatch of ultramarine blue on dry watercolor paper. While this is still wet, add alizarin crimson to the lower part of the blue wash, and watch the...2013, Thomas Needham, Ronald Pratt, Helen Tse, Deb Watson, Nancy Wylie, “Introduction”, in The Art of Watercolor Painting: Master Techniques for Creating Stunning Works of Art in Watercolor, Irvine...
- A demonstration, an example, a proof.
- Pray Sir, pay off the Old Debt, before I truſt you more New. This is a Swatch of Your Faith, and how much You are a Man of Your Word.1717, anonymous [William Wright], The Comical History of the Marriage betwixt Fergusia and Heptarchus, Edinburgh: Printed by Robert Brown, →OCLC, page 15
- There were about nine score strangers in Midgehop; four score of them William Blaik entertained, [...]. And I believe their neighbour, Robert Bigger would be much the same. This I record once for all, for a swatch of the hospitality of the parish; for God has given this people a largeness of heart...1811, Thomas Boston, “Period XII”, in George Pritchard, editor, Memoirs of the Life and Writings of the Reverend Thomas Boston, A.M. Written by Himself. Abridged by George Pritchard, London: Printed...
- A tag or other small object attached to another item as a means of identifying its owner; a tally; specifically the counterfoil of a tally.
- ITEM that the said Clerkis of the Brevements entre all the Taillis of the Furniunturs in the Jornall Booke in the Countynghous every day furthwith after the Brede be delyveret to the Pantre and then the Stoke [i.e., main part] of the Taill to by delyveret to the Baker and the Swache to the Pantler....c. 1512, “The Booke of All the Directions and Orders for Kepynge of My Lordes Hous Yerely. X. ITEM The Articles Howe the Clerks of the Kechinge and Clerks of the Brevements Shall Order Them aswell...
- A SWACHE, A Tally. N[orth] C[ountry][1721, N[athan] Bailey, “A SWACHE”, in An Universal Etymological English Dictionary: […], London: […] E. Bell, J. Darby, […], →OCLC
Verb
swatch (third-person singular simple present swatches, present participle swatching, simple past and past participle swatched)
- To create a swatch, especially a sample of knitted fabric.
- Swatching is important in knitting to obtain the correct gauge.
- This season, before you even think about the makeup you need, think about the beige/grey/rust/brown colors—and the clothes—you've been seeing on the preceding pages (to remind you, we've swatched some of them here).1976, Vogue, volume 166, London: Condé Nast Publications, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 482
Noun (2)
swatch (plural swatches)
- A channel or passage of water between sandbanks, or between a sandbank and a seashore.
- It muſt be obſerved, that the paſſages, called Cockerlees, are no other than ſwatches through the Long-Sand.1801, John Ritchie, “Instructions for Sailing in the Northern Part of the Bay of Bengal. Part I. Survey of the Coast from Point Palmiras to the Braces; of the Outlets of the Ganges, and of the...
- The Swatch, or Swatch of no ground, a chaſm in the bank, is ſituated between the latitudes of 21° and 21° 22′ North, and the middle of it lies about 50 leagues Weſt of the meridian of the White Cliffs.1804, Captain Ritchie [i.e., John Ritchie], “Directions for Crossing the Head of the Bay of Bengal”, in William Herbert, William Nicholson, Samuel Dunn, Gabriel Wright, editors, A New Nautical...
Proper noun capitalized: Swatch
Swatch
swatch meaning in Kannada
swatch in Kannada
- ಬಟ್ಟೆಯ ಎತ್ತುಗೆ
Examples of swatch in a sentence
- "Shall I give you some money now for the swatches?" asked Mrs.2014, Chloe Taylor, Swatch Out!, New York, N.Y.: Simon Spotlight, Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division, →ISBN, page 45:
- “Aisha, access the Pupa's informational color swatches.2021 March 26, Josh Bycel & Jen McCartney, “The Solar Opposites Almost Get an Xbox” (1:25 from the start), in Solar Opposites, season 2...
- Mix ultramarine blue and alizarin crimson in your palette until you get a rich purple, then paint a swatch on dry watercolor paper [...].2013, Thomas Needham, Ronald Pratt, Helen Tse, Deb Watson, Nancy Wylie, “Introduction”, in The Art of Watercolor Painting: Master...
- A swatch of hair, cleaned with a cosmetic treatment (shampoo, conditioner, etc.), is wetted, combed and then tangled according to a standardized protocol.2014, Gustavo S. Luengo, Anthony Galliano, Claude Dubief, “Aqueous Lubrication in Cosmetics”, in Nicholas D. Spencer, editor, Aqueous...
Forms of swatch
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | swatches |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | swatches |
| present participle | swatching |
| past participle | swatched |
| past | swatched |
Origin of swatch
From earlier Northern England dialectal swache (“the counterfoil or counterstock of a tally”) (1512); further etymology unknown. Cognate with Scots swach, swatch. Compare English swath, swathe. Compare also Old English swæcc (“taste; flavour; odour; fragrance”).
Unknown; originally used chiefly in the East of England.
From second watch or Swiss watch.
Words formed from swatch
Words that rhyme with swatch
Questions about swatch
- What does swatch mean?
- Swatch means a piece, pattern, or sample, generally of cloth or a similar material.
- What is swatch in Kannada?
- Swatch in Kannada is ಬಟ್ಟೆಯ ಎತ್ತುಗೆ. See Swatch meaning in Kannada.
- How do you use swatch in a sentence?
- "Shall I give you some money now for the swatches?" asked Mrs.
- What part of speech is swatch?
- Swatch can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce swatch?
- Swatch is pronounced /swɒtʃ/ (UK).
- What is the plural of swatch?
- The plural of swatch is swatches.
Words near swatch in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: swatch (page history and authors); Swatch (page history and authors); swatch (Kannada Wiktionary) (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-swatch.ogg, en-au-swatch.ogg.
Cite this entry: “swatch.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/swatch. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.