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Akdom Posted 17 years ago
Vocabulary

Swatted down

President is making historic overtures to , of course he was initially swatted down by Iranian leadership. But we would expect that, would we not?
What does the swatted down mean here in this context? "striked down?" "being rejected?"
Does the word swat/swat down being used a lot in American spoken languages? or to describe a basketball game?

  

Top answer

It's an old expression usually associated with the minor disciplining of children. You might call it dismissive. I think of it as a single demonstrative slap, on the strong side, but not to inflict injury.

— Avangi

  • It's an old expression usually associated with the minor disciplining of children.
  • You might call it dismissive.
  • I think of it as a single demonstrative slap, on the strong side, but not to inflict injury.
  • We also have "swatting at flys with a fly swatter," which is in some cases futile.
  • (busy, but ineffective) So it's sometimes used to describe something in this way.
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3 Answers
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It's an old expression usually associated with the minor disciplining of children. You might call it dismissive.

I think of it as a single demonstrative slap, on the strong side, but not to inflict injury.

We also have "swatting at flys with a fly swatter," which is in some cases futile. (busy, but ineffective) So it's sometimes used to describe something in this way. "Swat
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The most common use of "swat" is for what we do with a very old device called a fly swatter. The fly swatter has a long (often wire) handle, and a thin flexible plastic card attached to one end. It is very effective in killing flies and fast-moving annoying little bugs. I swat flies most often when they are sitting on something. I swat them down when they are flying in the air.
"swat down"
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akdomWhat does the swatted down mean here in this context? "striked down?" "being rejected?"
In this context it means that the Iranians dismissed Obam's overtures as not worthy of consideration.
akdomDoes the word swat/swat down being used a lot in American sp
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