1. To pass a plastic card through a piece of electronic equipment; such as, an electronic reader which decodes the information stored on the card in order to open a door, to pay for something, etc.: When Trina was ready to pay for the groceries, the clerk swiped her credit card in the electronic reader and gave the card back to her.
2. To steal something, often with a snatching movement: The kids swiped some candy from the store when the clerk was not watching.
3. To reach toward and to try to hit something with a swinging motion: The cat was swiping at the dog with her paw.

Deloris and Stacie swiped at the mosquitoes that were flying in their faces during their evening walk.

A plastic card; such as, a credit card, or an ID card, that has magnetically encoded information which is read when someone slides the edge of the card through an electronic device: Before James could gain entrance into the government building, he had to present his swipingcard to the guard who swiped it through the special electronic-identification machine.