Switch /(?)/

Switch

n.
  1. A small, flexible twig or rod.
    Mauritania, on the fifth medal, leads a horse with something like a thread; in her other hand she holds a switch.
  2. A movable part of a rail; or of opposite rails, for transferring cars from one track to another. (Railways)
  3. A separate mass or trees of hair, or of some substance (at jute) made to resemble hair, worn on the head by women.
  4. A device for shifting an electric current to another circuit, or for making and breaking a circuit. (Elec.)

Phrases & Compounds
Safety switch
a form of switch contrived to prevent or lessen the danger of derailment of trains.
Switch back
an arrangement of tracks whereby elevations otherwise insurmountable are passed. The track ascends by a series of zigzags, the engine running alternately forward and back, until the summit is reached.
Switch board
a collection of switches in one piece of apparatus, so arranged that a number of circuits may be connected or combined in any desired manner.
Switch grass
See under Grass.

Switch

v. t.

imp. & p. p. Switched; p. pr. & vb. n. Switching

  1. To strike with a switch or small flexible rod; to whip.
  2. To swing or whisk; as, to switch a cane.
  3. To trim, as, a hedge. [Prov. Eng.]
  4. To turn from one railway track to another; to transfer by a switch; -- generally with off, from, etc.; as, to switch off a train; to switch a car from one track to another.
  5. To shift to another circuit. (Eccl.)

Switch

v. i.
  1. To walk with a jerk. [Prov. Eng.]