swap

(swŏp)

v., swapped, swap·ping, swaps.

v.intr.
To trade one thing for another.

v.tr.
To exchange (one thing) for another.

n.

1. An exchange of one thing for another.
2. A contract in which two parties agree to exchange periodic interest payments, especially when one payment is at a fixed rate and the other varies according to the performance of a reference rate, such as the prime rate.

[Middle English swappen, to strike, strike the hands together in closing a bargain.]

swapper swap'per n.

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meaning 'exchange' (noun and verb) is the preferred spelling, not swop.

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Replacing one segment of a program in memory with another and restoring it back to the original when required. In virtual memory systems, it is called "paging."

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traditionally, an exchange of one security for another to change the maturities of a bond portfolio or the quality of the issues in a stock or bond portfolio, or because investment objectives have shifted. Investors with bond portfolio losses often swap for other higher-yielding bonds to be able to increase the return on their portfolio and realize tax losses. Recent years have seen explosive growth in more complex currency swaps, used to link increasingly global capital markets, and in interest-rate swaps, used to reduce risk by synthetically matching the duration of assets and liabilities of financial institutions as interest rates got higher and more volatile. In a simple currency swap (swaps can be done with varying degrees of complexity), two parties sell each other a currency with a commitment to re-exchange the principal amount at the maturity of the deal. Originally done to get around the problems of exchange controls, currency swaps are widely used to tap new capital markets, in effect to borrow funds irrespective of whether the borrower requires funds within that market. The international bank for reconstruction and development (world bank) has been an active participant in currency swaps with U.S. corporations.
An interest-rate swap is an arrangement whereby two parties (called counterparties) enter into an agreement to exchange periodic interest payments. The dollar amount the counterparties pay each other is an agreed-upon periodic interest rate multiplied by some predetermined dollar principal, called the notational principal amount. No principal (no notational amount) is exchanged between parties to the transaction; only interest is exchanged. In its most common and simplest variation, one party agrees to pay the other a fixed rate of interest in exchange for a floating rate. The benefit of interest-rate swaps, which can be used to synthetically extend or shorten the duration characteristics of an asset or liability, is that direct changes in the contractual characteristics of the assets or the liabilities become matters affecting only administrative, legal, and investment banking costs.
See also bond swap; credit default swaps; substitution.

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also swop

verb

To give up in return for something else: change, commute, exchange, interchange, shift, substitute, switch, trade. See change/persist, substitute.

noun

The act of exchanging or substituting: change, commutation, exchange, interchange, shift, substitution, switch, trade, transposition. See change/persist, substitute.

1. [techspeak] To move information from a fast-access memory to a slow-access memory (swap out), or vice versa (swap in). Often refers specifically to the use of disks as virtual memory. As pieces of data or program are needed, they are swapped into core for processing; when they are no longer needed they may be swapped out again.

2. The jargon use of these terms analogizes people's short-term memories with core. Cramming for an exam might be spoken of as swapping in. If you temporarily forget someone's name, but then remember it, your excuse is that it was swapped out. To keep something swapped in means to keep it fresh in your memory: “I reread the TECO manual every few months to keep it swapped in.” If someone interrupts you just as you got a good idea, you might say “Wait a moment while I swap this out”, implying that a piece of paper is your extra-somatic memory and that if you don't swap the idea out by writing it down it will get overwritten and lost as you talk. Compare page in, page out.

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Traditionally, the exchange of one security for another to change the maturity (bonds), quality of issues (stocks or bonds), or because investment objectives have changed. Recently, swaps have grown to include currency swaps and interest rate swaps.

Investopedia Says:
If firms in separate countries have comparative advantages on interest rates, then a swap could benefit both firms. For example, one firm may have a lower fixed interest rate, while another has access to a lower floating interest rate. These firms could swap to take advantage of the lower rates.

Related Links:
Derivatives can reduce the risks associated with changes in foreign exchange rates, interest rates and commodity prices. How Companies Use Derivatives To Hedge Risk
These ETFs don't always provide the returns you expect. Find out why this happens, and what you can do about it. Why Leveraged ETFs Don't Always Boost Returns
Learn how these derivatives work and how companies can benefit from them. An Introduction To Swaps
Here we examine some telling patterns in the relation between countries' interest rates and their currency pairs. Bond Spreads: A Leading Indicator For Forex
Moving from equities to currencies requires you to adjust how you interpret quotes, margin, spreads and rollovers. A Primer On The Forex Market

An approved plan to minimize the effect of severe adverse weather to traffic flows in affected terminal and/or ARTCC (air traffic control center) areas. This plan is put into operation when flight through an airspace is either not possible or is difficult. Such a plan should cause minimum disruption

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For a list of words related to swapping, see:

• Memory and Data Storage - swapping: technique for transfer of program and data code from one storage medium to main memory and back, or between levels of main memory

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See words rhyming with "swapper."

  See crossword solutions for the clue Swap.

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Dansk (Danish)
v. intr. - bytte, lave byttehandel
v. tr. - bytte, udveksle, tilbytte sig, skifte
n. - bytte, bytning, dublet

Nederlands (Dutch)
ruilen, ruil

Français (French)
v. intr. - échanger
v. tr. - échanger, troquer
n. - échange

Deutsch (German)
v. - tauschen, austauschen
n. - Tausch

Ελληνική (Greek)
v. - ανταλλάσσω, κάνω τράμπα
n. - ανταλλαγή, τράμπα, αντάλλαγμα, (οικον.) ανταλλαγή αξιογράφων (χρεογράφων) ίσης αξίας

Italiano (Italian)
cambiare, scambiarsi, cambio

Português (Portuguese)
v. - trocar
n. - troca (f)

Русский (Russian)
обмен, сделка, менять, меняться, заключить сделку

Español (Spanish)
v. intr. - cambiar, canjear, permutar
v. tr. - cambiar, canjear, permutar
n. - cambio, canje, permuta

Svenska (Swedish)
v. - byta, utbyta, göra en bytesaffär
n. - byte, bytesaffär

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
交换, 交易, 与...交换, 以...作交换, 交换的东西

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
v. intr. - 交換, 交易
v. tr. - 交換, 與...交換, 以...作交換
n. - 交換, 交換的東西

한국어 (Korean)
v. intr. - 교환하다
v. tr. - 바꾸다, (그의 물건과) 교환하다
n. - 교환 , 교환물

日本語 (Japanese)
v. - 交換する
n. - 交換, 交換物

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(فعل) يقايض , يبادل , يتبادل مع (الاسم) مقايضه , مبادله‏

עברית (Hebrew)
v. intr. - ‮החליף‬
v. tr. - ‮החליף‬
n. - ‮חליפין, החלפה, חפץ להחלפה‬

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