swot

1 of 2

noun

British

swot

2 of 2

verb

swotted; swotting

Examples of swot in a Sentence

Noun every time he begged off a night at the pub—saying he had to study—his mates teased him for being a swot
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Noun
The Oxbridge and Ivy League colleges traditionally had disparaging terms for students who worked too hard and devoted themselves too diligently to learning: swot in England, grind in the United States. John McIntyre, The Christian Science Monitor, 31 July 2023 So, swot up, then delegate. Barnaby Lashbrooke, Forbes, 4 May 2021
Verb
Yamada Jun, the IT expert, became the CEO and travelled to Germany to swot up on renewables. The Economist, 13 June 2020 Greenblatt might want to have a chinwag with some of his colleagues in the history department and swot up the biography of someone like Wisconsin’s Robert La Follette, a progressive populist politician perhaps more to his liking. Alex Beam, BostonGlobe.com, 2 May 2018

Word History

Etymology

Noun

English dialect, sweat, from Middle English swot, from Old English swāt — more at sweat

First Known Use

Noun

1844, in the meaning defined above

Verb

circa 1860, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of swot was in 1844

Dictionary Entries Near swot

Cite this Entry

“Swot.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/swot. Accessed 10 Dec. 2024.

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!