1. A sample strip cut from a piece of material.
2. A representative portion; a sample: quoted swatches of the speech in his article.
3. A strip or swath of land: "I . . . drove through this hilly swatch of field and forest that wraps around the east and north of town" (Jean Anderson).

[Origin unknown.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.