SWITCH

I. noun Etymology: perhaps from Middle Dutch swijch twig Date: 1592 a slender flexible whip, rod, or twig , an act of ~ing: as, a blow with a ~, a shift from one to another, a change from the usual , a tuft of long hairs at the end of the tail of an animal (as a cow), a device made usually of two movable rails and necessary connections and designed to turn a locomotive or train from one track to another, a device for making, breaking, or changing the connections in an electrical circuit, a heavy strand of hair used in addition to a person's own hair for some coiffures, II. verb Date: circa 1611 transitive verb to strike or beat with or as if with a ~, whisk , lash , 3. a. to turn from one railroad track to another ; shunt , to move (cars) to different positions on the same track within terminal areas, to make a shift in or exchange of , 4. to shift to another electrical circuit by means of a ~, b. to operate an electrical ~ so as to turn (as a device) on or off, to change to or from an active state, intransitive verb to lash from side to side, to make a shift or exchange, ~able adjective ~er noun