swab down

swab down

To clean or wash some surface with an absorbent cleaning implement. A noun or pronoun can be used between "swab" and "down." He has been relegated to swabbing down the deck for the foreseeable future as punishment for his actions. I swabbed her brow down with a cool, wet sponge.

See also: down, swab

Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

swab something down

to wash or scrub something, such as the deck of a ship. The sailors were told to swab the deck down each day. Swab down the deck!

See also: down, swab

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

swab down

v.

To clean a surface with a swab: The sailor swabbed down the deck. If the table is dirty, swab it down with lots of soap.

See also: down, swab

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs. Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.