Careful Words

swim (n.)

swim (v.)

One thought of thee puts all the pomp to flight;

Priests, tapers, temples, swim before my sight.

Alexander Pope (1688-1744): Eloisa to Abelard. Line 273.

  How we apples swim!

Jonathan Swift (1667-1745): Brother Protestants.

'T is a naughty night to swim in.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): King Lear. Act iii. Sc. 4.

  Sink or swim, live or die, survive or perish, I give my hand and my heart to this vote.

Daniel Webster (1782-1852): Eulogy on Adams and Jefferson, Aug. 2, 1826. P. 133.

"Darest thou, Cassius, now

Leap in with me into this angry flood,

And swim to yonder point?" Upon the word,

Accoutred as I was, I plunged in

And bade him follow.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Julius Caesar. Act i. Sc. 2.