SWALLOW

n. any of various migratory swift-flying insect-eating birds of the family Hirundinidae, esp. Hirundo rustica, with a forked tail and long pointed wings. øone swallow does not make a summer a warning against a hasty inference from one instance. swallow-dive a dive with the arms outspread until close to the water. swallow-tail 1 a deeply forked tail. 2 anything resembling this shape. 3 any butterfly of the family Papilionidae with wings extended at the back to this shape. swallow-tailed having a swallow-tail. [OE swealwe f. Gmc]