Definition of "swash" []

• A splash of water or other liquid hitting a solid surface. (noun)
• The sound of such a splash. (noun)
• A narrow channel through which tides flow. (noun)
• A bar over which waves wash freely. (noun)
• See uprush. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The water that rushes up the beach is called the swash while any water returning down to the sea is the backwash."
• "A pathway of earth thirty feet in width could not endure the winds and waves of a navigable lake, or the wear and "swash" of a canal twelve feet deep on either side; and the fact that Cortéz navigated the ditches in the rainy season establishes the insignificant size of his famous brigantines."
• "The feeble "swash" that answered the shake was not reassuring."