Switch
Switch , noun
[Compare OD. swick a scourage, a whip. Compare Swink, Swing.]
1.
A small, flexible twig or rod.
Mauritania, on the fifth medal, leads a horse with something like a thread; in her other hand she holds a switch.
2.
(Railways) A movable part of a rail; or of opposite rails, for transferring cars from one track to another.
3.
A separate mass or trees of hair, or of some substance (at jute) made to resemble hair, worn on the head by women.
4.
(Electricity) A device for shifting an electric current to another circuit, or for making and breaking a circuit.
Collocations (4)
Safety switch (Railways) , a form of switch contrived to prevent or lessen the danger of derailment of trains.
Switch back (Railways) , an arrangement of tracks whereby elevations otherwise insurmountable are passed. The track ascends by a series of zigzags, the engine running alternately forward and back, until the summit is reached.
Switch board (Electricity) , a collection of switches in one piece of apparatus, so arranged that a number of circuits may be connected or combined in any desired manner.
Switch , transitive verb
1.
To strike with a switch or small flexible rod; to whip. — Chapman
2.
To swing or whisk; as, to switch a cane.
3.
To trim, as, a hedge. [Provincial English] — Halliwell
4.
To turn from one railway track to another; to transfer by a switch; -- generally with off, from, etc.; as, to switch off a train; to switch a car from one track to another.
5.
(Ecclesiastical) To shift to another circuit.
Switch , intransitive verb
To walk with a jerk. [Provincial English]