switches

Noun

switch (countable and uncountable, plural switches)

1. A device to turn electric current on and off or direct its flow.
2. A change or exchange.
   • After many complications and sudden switches of career and identity for all […] they end up selling out for fame and money, and leave the boardwalk for good.1985 December 7, Nicholas Deutsch, “Epstein on the Beach (review)”, in Gay Community News, volume 13, number 21, page 15
3. (Philippines, US) A movable section of railroad track which allows the train to be directed down one of two destination tracks; (set of) points.

   Synonyms:

   points

4. A long, slender woody plant stem or a flexible, thin rod used as a whip to administer corporal punishment in the United States.
   • Their mother would walk out into the yard and cut a switch from a tree and beat him—beat him, it seemed to Florence, until any other boy would have fallen down dead; […]1953, James Baldwin, “Florence's Prayer”, in Go Tell It on the Mountain (Penguin Classics), London: Penguin Books, published 2001, →ISBN

   Synonyms:

   crop

5. Synonym of rute.

   Synonyms:

   rute

6. A command line notation allowing specification of optional behavior.
   • Use the /b switch to specify black-and-white printing.

   Synonyms:

   flag, option, specifier

See all 31 meanings of switch