Legal Definitions - swipe

Definition: To strike or try to strike with a swinging blow, to steal, or to pass a card with a magnetic stripe through a machine that reads the stripe.

• The cat swiped its claws across my hand.
• The thief swiped the ring out of the display case.
• I swiped my credit card through the pay phone's reader and made my call.

The first example illustrates the first sense of the definition, where "swipe" means to strike or try to strike with a swinging blow. The second example illustrates the second sense of the definition, where "swipe" means to steal. The third example illustrates the third sense of the definition, where "swipe" means to pass a card with a magnetic stripe through a machine that reads the stripe.