swifter

/ˈswɪftəɹ/

swifter is the comparative form of swift.

Noun

swifter (plural swifters)

A rope used to retain the bars of the capstan in their sockets while it is being turned.
A rope used to encircle a boat longitudinally, to strengthen and defend her sides.
The forward shroud of a lower mast.

swift (comparative swifter, superlative swiftest)

Fast; quick; rapid.
- swift action
Capable of moving at high speeds.
(informal) Quick-thinking; bright.
- That's what limos do — advertise, and he should have known that. But, as I told you before, officer, he's not too swift.2011, Paul A. Lavallee, Firewatch, page 44

swifter (third-person singular simple present swifters, present participle swiftering, simple past and past participle swiftered)

(transitive) To tighten (e.g. slack standing rigging) by bringing the opposite shrouds nearer.

Noun
plural	swifters
Verb
third-person singular present	swifters
present participle	swiftering
past participle	swiftered
past	swiftered

Compare swivel.

What does swifter mean?: Swifter means a rope used to retain the bars of the capstan in their sockets while it is being turned.
What is swifter the comparative form of?: Swifter is the comparative form of swift.
What part of speech is swifter?: Swifter can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce swifter?: Swifter is pronounced /ˈswɪftəɹ/.
What is the plural of swifter?: The plural of swifter is swifters.

Adapted from Wiktionary: swifter (page history and authors); swift (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: 2026-09-02

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