swift 
swift (swift)
adjective
- moving or capable of moving with great speed; rapid; fast
- coming, happening, or done quickly or suddenly
- acting or responding quickly; prompt; ready
Etymology: ME < OE < IE *sweip- < base *swei-, to bend, turn > swathe, swoop
adverb
in a swift manner
noun
- a cylinder in a carding machine
- an expanding reel used to hold skeins of silk, etc. that are being wound off
- any of a large family (Apodidae, order Apodiformes) of aerial-feeding, insectivorous, swift-flying, swallowlike birds with long, stiff wings and a small, weak bill, as the chimney swift
- any of several swift-moving North American iguanas (genera Sceloporus and Uta) living esp. in arid or desert regions
- a small fox (Vulpes velox) of the plains of W U.S. and S Canada
Swift (swift)
Swift, Jonathan 1667-1745; Eng. satirist, born in Ireland
Adjective modifier
- pallid: Pallid Swifts abound, ultramarinus Blue Tits in the alleys and a big Cattle Egret colony in one of the parks.
- common: The few common Swifts can be awkward to pick out and House Martins from above can look remarkably White-rumped and swifty!
- little: Last night, and indeed the night before, saw us visited by a few little Swifts on their way somewhere.
- few: Last night, and indeed the night before, saw us visited by a few little Swifts on their way somewhere.
Modifies a noun
- pint: Last chance saloon A swift pint, then back into detox.
- counter-attack: This gave them a greater attacking threat, but was leaving gaps in their rearguard for South to exploit in swift counter-attacks.
- glance: I took a swift glance as the band struck up with Deliverance and decided it was time to go!
- messenger: So the King sent swift messengers to all parts of the world to summon every evil creature to his aid.
- kick: It's amazing what a swift kick up the backside can do to a boy!
- departure: Mr Moon, 05 Sep 05 Very easy check in, swift departure to airport at a realistic price.
Modifying Another Word
- remarkably: The expansion has been remarkably swift given that Bangors House has been in business for just three years.
- surprisingly: We needn't have worried tho as it was more of a drift down the river ( surprisingly swift ).
- incredibly: However, forward progress was incredibly swift and always accompanied by a soundtrack that was pure MG RV8.
- fairly: After joining the Chester and District League Fourth Division they made fairly swift progress and by 1969 had reached Division One.
- relatively: Military operations against Iraq may indeed lead to a relatively swift victory in the short term.
- extremely: Just to say many thanks for the extremely swift dispatch of the replacement wheel.
Infinitive complement
- shed: Their feet rush into sin; they are swift to shed innocent blood.
Used with adjective complement
- run: There were chimneys we climbed; there were boulders we scaled; and the streams that ran swift after rain.
Preposition: than
- leopard: He says that they're swifter than leopards or panthers.
Irishness is not primarily a question of birth or blood or language: it isthe condition of being involved in the Irish situation, and usually of being mauled by it. On that definition Swift ismore Irishthan Goldsmith or Sheridan, although by the usual tests they are Irish and he is pure English.
I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.
In anguish we uplift A new unhallowed song: The race is to the swift, The battle to the strong. See Bible101:85.
Swift was the race, but short the time to run.
All things counter, original, spare, strange; Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?) With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim; He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change: Praise him.
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