switch
/swɪt͡ʃ/
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.60 in modern English
Meaning
noun
A movable section of railroad track which allows the train to be directed down one of two destination tracks; (set of) points.
American usage; Countable; Uncountable
noun
A long, slender woody plant stem or a flexible, thin rod used as a whip to administer corporal punishment in the United States.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
A programming construct that takes different actions depending on the value of an expression.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
A networking device connecting multiple wires, allowing them to communicate simultaneously, when possible. Compare to the less efficient hub device that solely duplicates network packets to each wire.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "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."
- "Wenger sent on Cesc Fabregas and Van Persie to try to finish Leeds off and with 14 minutes left the switch paid off as the Spaniard sent Bendtner away down the right and his wonderful curling cross was headed in by Van Persie at the far post."
- "This is a result of a switch from High Street to online retailing, requiring consumer goods to be delivered to the door from large-scale distribution parks that have sufficient traffic to justify a rail terminal."
- "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; […]"
- ""A proper switch is a slim, flexible branch off a tree or a bush. A switch applied to the buttocks stings fiercely. It may leave red marks or bruises, but it causes no lasting damage..""
- "Use the /b switch to specify black-and-white printing."
Etymology
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: swijch