"swing and a miss" meaning in English

{
  "etymology_text": "An allusion to unsuccessful physical actions in such sports as cricket, baseball or boxing, as when swinging a bat at a pitched ball or when throwing a punch at an opponent.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "swings and misses",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-",
        "2": "swings and misses"
      },
      "expansion": "swing and a miss (usually uncountable, plural swings and misses)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English coordinated pairs",
          "parents": [
            "Coordinated pairs",
            "Terms by etymology"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2005 June 4, Michael Valpy, “Dutch, Belgians take gay marriage in stride”, in Globe and Mail, Canada, retrieved 2016-01-11:",
          "text": "A letter arrived from then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the Vatican's enforcer of the faith, instructing him to behave as a Roman Catholic politician and vote No. . . . And, of course, Mr. Koopmans voted Yes on the legislation. . . . A swing and a miss for Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2009 November 24, Sam Sifton, “Dining and Wine: A Voce Columbus”, in New York Times, retrieved 2016-01-11:",
          "text": "Beef carpaccio with walnuts, lemon and pecorino is a swing and a miss: almost flavorless.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2012 August 28, Chris Cillizza, “Republican National Convention night one: Winners and Losers”, in Washington Post, retrieved 2016-01-11:",
          "text": "In her defense, she's not ever been at this level of national politics before but Tuesday night's speech felt like a swing and a miss for Ayotte.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A sincere but unsuccessful attempt."
      ],
      "id": "en-swing_and_a_miss-en-noun-EhaoYRH3",
      "links": [
        [
          "a",
          "a#English"
        ],
        [
          "sincere",
          "sincere"
        ],
        [
          "unsuccessful",
          "unsuccessful"
        ],
        [
          "attempt",
          "attempt"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "almost always preceded by a",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, almost always preceded by a) A sincere but unsuccessful attempt."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "uncountable",
        "usually"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-swing and a miss.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/a/a1/En-au-swing_and_a_miss.ogg/En-au-swing_and_a_miss.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a1/En-au-swing_and_a_miss.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "swing and a miss"
}

{
  "etymology_text": "An allusion to unsuccessful physical actions in such sports as cricket, baseball or boxing, as when swinging a bat at a pitched ball or when throwing a punch at an opponent.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "swings and misses",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-",
        "2": "swings and misses"
      },
      "expansion": "swing and a miss (usually uncountable, plural swings and misses)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English coordinated pairs",
        "English countable nouns",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English nouns",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English uncountable nouns",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2005 June 4, Michael Valpy, “Dutch, Belgians take gay marriage in stride”, in Globe and Mail, Canada, retrieved 2016-01-11:",
          "text": "A letter arrived from then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the Vatican's enforcer of the faith, instructing him to behave as a Roman Catholic politician and vote No. . . . And, of course, Mr. Koopmans voted Yes on the legislation. . . . A swing and a miss for Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2009 November 24, Sam Sifton, “Dining and Wine: A Voce Columbus”, in New York Times, retrieved 2016-01-11:",
          "text": "Beef carpaccio with walnuts, lemon and pecorino is a swing and a miss: almost flavorless.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2012 August 28, Chris Cillizza, “Republican National Convention night one: Winners and Losers”, in Washington Post, retrieved 2016-01-11:",
          "text": "In her defense, she's not ever been at this level of national politics before but Tuesday night's speech felt like a swing and a miss for Ayotte.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A sincere but unsuccessful attempt."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "a",
          "a#English"
        ],
        [
          "sincere",
          "sincere"
        ],
        [
          "unsuccessful",
          "unsuccessful"
        ],
        [
          "attempt",
          "attempt"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "almost always preceded by a",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, almost always preceded by a) A sincere but unsuccessful attempt."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "uncountable",
        "usually"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-swing and a miss.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/a/a1/En-au-swing_and_a_miss.ogg/En-au-swing_and_a_miss.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a1/En-au-swing_and_a_miss.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "swing and a miss"
}