swipe card

noun

plural swipe cards

Definition of swipe card

: a plastic card with a magnetic strip that has encoded information which can be read when the card is slid through an electronic card-reading device … announced proposals to introduce electronic swipe cards for regular, pre-screened travelers that would allow them to bypass lengthy passport lines.— Harvey Morris … specialists were able to trace the messages to a remote location on campus and match their posting times to those when a certain student used his campus swipe card to get in and out of the same building.— Barrett Seaman