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Swim (In the)

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In society. The upper crust of society. An angler’s phrase. A lot of fish gathered together is called a swim, and when an angler can pitch his hook in such a place he is said to be “in a good swim.” To know persons in the swim is to know society folk, who always congregate together.

“Cottontree, who knows nearly everybody in the swim of European society … informs him that Lucy Annerley is the daughter of Sir Jonas Stevens.”—A. C. Gunter: Mr. Potter of Texas, book iii. chap. xiv.

 

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

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Sweep
Sweepstakes (A)
Sweet as sugar
Sweet Singer of Israel
Sweet Singers
Sweet Voices
Sweetheart
Swell Mob
Swi Dynasty
Swift
Swim (In the)
Swindle
Swine
Swing (Captain)
Swinge-buckler
Swiss
Swiss Boy (The)
Swiss Family Robinson
Swithin (St.)
Switzers
Sword