Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (US campus) to defeat.

1896		W.C. Gore Student Sl. in Cohen (1997) 22: swipe v […] 2. To defeat. ‘He swiped me in chess.’.
1900		E.H. Babbitt ‘College Words and Phrases’ in DN II:i 66: swipe, v. To defeat badly.
1902		Okolona Messenger (MS) 22 Oct. 3/1: College slang [...] ‘swipe’, ‘soak’, ‘hen-medic’, ‘goose-egg’, ‘crib’.

2. (US Und.) to assault.

1897		W.S. Maugham Liza of Lambeth (1966) 6: I’ll swipe yer over the snitch if yer talk ter me.
1904		Number 1500 Life In Sing Sing 252: Swipe. to assault.
1916		G. Squiers More Skitologues 6: If he comes after Maggie oi’ll swoipe his dirty oie.
1924		G. Henderson Keys to Crookdom 420: Swipe. [...] To hit blow with open hand.
1945		R.S. Close Love me Sailor 151: I swiped the bloody Swede there for speaking about you and Miss Miller, sir.

3. (orig. US) to steal.

c.1880		‘O’Reilly’ [US army poem] O’Reilly swiped a blanket, and shoved it up I hear, / He shoved it for a dollar and invested that in beer.
1882		‘The Jargon of Thieves’ in Derry Jrnl 8 Sept. 6/5: The act of stealing is called ‘swiping’ .
1893		S. Crane Maggie, a Girl of the Streets (2001) 11: I got dis can fer dat ol’ woman an’ it ’ud be dirt teh swipe it.
1901		C.R. Wooldridge Hands Up! 198: Jim, you stall. Mike, you swipe the goods.
1916		J. Lait ‘Charlie the Wolf’ Beef, Iron and Wine (1917) 57: A mush-faced youngster charged wit’ swipin’ a ham.
1923		Wodehouse Inimitable Jeeves 39: She jolly well stole them. Pinched them! Swiped them!
1937–8		J. White [ex slave] in Yetman Voices from Slavery (1970) 308: Mighty good whiskey, too! Maybe I drinks too much, then I was sorry. Not that I swipe the whiskey, just sorry because I get sick!
1948		C. Day Lewis Otterbury Incident 83: Asked him to explain how the money could have disappeared if Ted hadn’t swiped it.
1959		E. De Roo Young Wolves 45: Somebody swiped my trumpet!
1966		M. Rumaker Exit 3 and Other Stories 106: He took time to swipe a necklace.
1974		G.F. Newman You Flash Bastard 84: So you’re the one who keeps swiping the milk!
1985		J. Sullivan ‘Strained Relations’ Only Fools and Horses [TV script] Make sure you bring them batteries in ’fore someone swipes ’em.
1999		N. Cohn Yes We Have No 77: They swiped it, fixed it up, then passed it on.
2023		(con. 1962) J. Ellroy Enchanters 10: They weren’t really righteous 211 guys. They tapped the till and swiped some beaver mags.