From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishswabswab1 /swɒb $ swɑːb/ noun [countable] 1 MHa small piece of material used to clean a wound or take a small amount of a substance from someone’s body in order to test it a cotton swab2 MHa small amount of a substance that is taken from someone’s body with a swab in order to test it The doctor took a throat swab to check for infection.
Examples from the Corpus
swab• He covered my newest wound with a swab of alcohol and a lozenge of gauze.• It is later learned he might also be getting an alcohol swab as well.• Have each student dip a cotton swab in purple grape juice and rub it over the paper.• He remembers the glass jars filled with cotton swabs, tongue depressors, latex gloves.• Earlier this month traces of Salmonella typhimurium were found in swabs taken from the hen house.• Rectal swabs were cultured for chlamydia.swabswab2 verb (swabbed, swabbing) [transitive] 1 (also swab something ↔ down)TTWDHC to clean something using a large amount of water a girl who was swabbing the tiled floor with a mop2 MHto clean a wound with a small piece of special material→ See Verb tableExamples from the Corpus
swab• At Twentieth and Blake he saw a man swabbing a garbage truck.• He studied her face as she cleaned the skin of the boy's right shoulder and swabbed a patch with alcohol.• As they leaned against a red brick wall, a portly prison system official swabbed at the sweat trickling into his collar.• There was no time for emotion as the blood was swabbed away and she concentrated on the badly gashed cheekbone.• She sits in a soft curve at her easel, gently swabbing away three centuries from a grumpy London sky.• Isaac swabbed perspiration from above his haunted eyes with a rag he kept handy for cleaning the windshield.• After a Pap smear is done, the doctor simply swabs vinegar on the cervix and shines the blue-white light on it.Origin swab1 (1600-1700) Probably from early Dutch swabbe 