Swift

Quick, rapid, fast, speedy

–adjective
1. moving or capable of moving with great speed or velocity; fleet; rapid: a swift ship.
2. coming, happening, or performed quickly or without delay: a swift decision.
3. quick or prompt to act or respond: swift to jump to conclusions.
4. Slang. quick to perceive or understand; smart; clever: You can't cheat him, he's too swift.
–adverb swiftly.
–noun
any of numerous long-winged, swallowlike birds of the family Apodidae, related to the hummingbirds and noted for their rapid flight.
an adjustable device upon which a hank of yarn is placed in order to wind off skeins or balls.
the main cylinder on a machine for carding flax.

Further information:
The swifts are birds superficially similar to swallows but are actually not closely related to those passerine species at all; swifts are in the separate order Apodiformes, which they formerly shared with the hummingbirds. They move into hollow trees and chimneys--and live and breed there year after year--they are very loyal (and noisy) birds. It is expensive to have them removed!

Fast Patrol Craft (PCF), also known as Swift Boats, were all aluminum, 50 foot long, shallow-draft vessels operated by the United States Navy for counterinsurgency (COIN) operations during the Vietnam War. Events realted to them can undo presidential candidates years later.

Jonathan Swift (November 30, 1667 – October 19, 1745) was an Irish cleric, Dean of St. Patrick's, Dublin, satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer (first for Whigs then for Tories), and poet, famous for works like Gulliver's Travels, A Modest Proposal, A Journal to Stella, The Drapier's Letters, The Battle of the Books, and A Tale of a Tub. Swift is probably the foremost prose satirist in the English language, and is less well known for his poetry. Who hasn't had to read Gulliver's Travels--or at least the cliff notes?



Umbrella swift: Hold your hanks on this wooden swift while you wind them into balls. Clamps onto table and counter tops. Easy loading is possible if you start with the umbrella in the down position. Put the open loop of the hank over the swift and pull it lightly so the far side of the hank is against the center of the umbrella section and you are holding the hank out perpendicular to the swift. Then, use your free hand to slide up the umbrella clamp, opening the umbrella to the circumference of the hank. Secure the clamp in place and wind away. Best when used in tandem with the Ball Winder. Measures approx. 26½" in diameter and 26" tall when open.

Had the birds in the chimney, know about the boats, read the book, and now have this nifty accessory to use with my ball winder. Life is good.

Swift, to swift, swifting, swifted, etc.

(Thanks to wikipedia and dictionary on line for the enlightenment!)