Swab

noun
1.
a large mop used on shipboard for cleaning decks, living quarters, etc.
2.
a bit of sponge, cloth, cotton, or the like, sometimes fixed to a stick, for cleansing the mouth of a sick person or for applying medicaments, drying areas, etc.
3.
the material collected with a swab as a specimen for microscopic study.
4.
a brush or wad of absorbent material for cleaning the bore of a firearm.
5.
Slang. a sailor; swabby.
6.
Slang. a clumsy fellow.
verb (used with object), swabbed, swabbing.
7.
to clean with or as if with a swab:
to swab the decks.
8.
to take up or apply, as moisture, with or as if with a swab:
to swab soapy water from the decks.
9.
to pass over a surface:
to swab a mop over the decks.
1.
Swabia.
2.
Swabian.
noun
1.
(med)

a small piece of cotton, gauze, etc, for use in applying medication, cleansing a wound, or obtaining a specimen of a secretion, etc
the specimen so obtained

2.
a mop for cleaning floors, decks, etc
3.
a brush used to clean a firearm’s bore
4.
(slang) an uncouth or worthless fellow
verb swabs, swabbing, swabbed
5.
(transitive) to clean or medicate with or as if with a swab
6.
(transitive) foll by up. to take up with a swab

swab (swŏb)
n.

A small piece of absorbent material attached to the end of a stick or wire and used for cleansing or applying medicine.

A specimen of mucus or other material removed with a swab.

Suzy Homemaker

/swob/ The PDP-11 swap byte instruction mnemonic, as immortalised in the dd option “conv=swab”.
1. To solve the NUXI problem by swapping bytes in a file.
2. The program in V7 Unix used to perform this action, or anything functionally equivalent to it.
See also big-endian, little-endian, middle-endian, bytesexual.
[Jargon File]