flipper vs swim

flipper

verb
  • To lift one or both flippers out of the water and slap the surface of the water. 

noun
  • Television remote control, clicker. 

  • A type of ball bowled by a leg spin bowler, which spins backwards and skids off the pitch with a low bounce. 

  • A flat lever in a pinball machine, triggered by the player to strike the ball and keep it in play. 

  • A kind of false tooth, usually temporary. 

  • A small flat used to support a larger one. 

  • Someone who flips, in the sense of buying a house or other asset and selling it quickly for profit. 

  • Someone who flips in any other sense, for example throwing a coin. 

  • In marine mammals such as whales, a wide flat limb, adapted for swimming. 

  • A flat, wide, paddle-like rubber covering for the foot, used in swimming. 

  • A kitchen spatula. 

swim

verb
  • To move through the water, without touching the bottom; to propel oneself in water by natural means. 

  • To move around freely because of excess space. 

  • To glide along with a waving motion. 

  • My head was swimming after drinking two bottles of cheap wine. 

  • To cause to swim. 

  • To immerse in water to make the lighter parts float. 

  • To traverse (a specific body of water, or a specific distance) by swimming; or, to utilize a specific swimming stroke; or, to compete in a specific swimming event. 

  • To be dizzy or vertiginous; have a giddy sensation; to have, or appear to have, a whirling motion. 

  • To be overflowed or drenched. 

  • To become immersed in, or as if in, or flooded with, or as if with, a liquid 

  • To test (a suspected witch) by throwing into a river; those who floated rather than sinking were deemed to be witches. 

noun
  • The sound, or air bladder, of a fish. 

  • An act or instance of swimming. 

  • A dizziness; swoon. 

  • A dance move of the 1960s in which the arms are moved in a freestyle swimming manner. 

  • A part of a stream much frequented by fish. 

How often have the words flipper and swim occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )