swimmingly
adverb - informal

- successfully and without any problems

- very well, splendidly

Cambridge Dictionary / Merriam-Webster

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PHRASE ORIGIN

Given that most of the earth’s surface is covered with water, it’s not surprising that “swim” is itself a very old word, from the old English verb swimman of Germanic origin.

“Swim” has acquired a wide variety of figurative uses, many involving a sense of gliding or moving smoothly with uninterrupted progress: “She swam across the floor as though she scorned the drudgery of walking<” (The Black Arrow, Robert Louis Stevenson, 1888).

The adverb “swimmingly” was further boosted (excuse the pun) by American astronaut Michael Collins. On July 20, 1969, Collins was orbiting the moon in the Apollo 11 command module Columbia. Fellow astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were in the Eagle lunar module. At 18:46 GMT, after the two modules separated, the Eagle headed toward the moon while the Columbia continued its orbit.

At 20:08, Armstrong and Aldrin ignited the lunar craft's descent engines. At 20:47, Collins reported to Earth that the landing craft was on its way down to the lunar surface. With millions of people watching the first moon landing on television:

"Everything's GOING JUST SWIMMINGLY", he reported, "beautiful!”

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CURIOUS FACT

If you turn the word SWIMS upside down, it looks weird, but reads the same.

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WATERY WORDS

- Be swimming in (something): to have a lot of something. “The founders of the company are swimming in money.”

- Get one's feet wet: to begin to experience something new or unfamiliar. “I got my feet wet by speaking in public in front of large audiences.”

- Jump (Go off) the deep end: to suddenly become very angry, upset, or irrational. "The CEO went off the deep end when he found out that his email had be<en hacked.”

- Make a splash: to cause a lot of excitement or attention. "The new movie made a real splash at the box office."

- Test the waters: to try something new or unfamiliar to see how you feel about it. "The investor tested the waters by risking a small amount of money in a new company."

- Be left to sink or swim: to be left to succeed or fail on your own. "The new business unit was left to sink or swim without any outside help."

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SYNONYMS

beautifully, darlingly, excellently, fantastically, felicitously, grandly, gratifyingly, magnificently, marvelously, matchlessly, smoothly, splendidly, successfully, superbly, SWIMMINGLY, unsurpassedly, winningly, wonderfully

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SMUGGLE OWAD into a conversation, say something like:

“Our pre-Xmas preparations are GOING SWIMMINGLY.”

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