"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": "English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with language name categories using raw markup",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
          "parents": [
            "Terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "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": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "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": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "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": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "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",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "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 entries with language name categories using raw markup",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English nouns",
        "English terms with audio links",
        "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English uncountable nouns"
      ],
      "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": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "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": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "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": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "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",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "swing and a miss"
}