swap: vt. 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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