swell
/swɛl/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.64 in modern English
8
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To become larger, fuller, or rounder, or expand in size or shape, usually as a result of pressure from within.
Intransitive verb
verb
To be elated; to rise arrogantly.
verb
To be turgid, bombastic, or extravagant.
Example Sentences
- "My ankles had swelled in the heat."
- "O for a Muse of fire, that would ascend The brightest heaven of invention, A kingdom for a stage, princes to act And monarchs to behold the swelling scene!"
- "“If you drinks a drop more, Miss Lucy, you’ll just go like my pore young sister goed, […] Pop she did not. She swole … swole and swole.” “You mean ‘swelled,’ Cookoo,” corrected Lucille […] “[…] I say she swole—and what is more she swole clean into a dropsy.”"
- "She had overheard her Mom and Mrs. Thomas from across the street talking about someone who was allergic to stings, and Mrs. Thomas had said, "Ten seconds after it gut im, poor ole Frank was swole up like a balloon. If he hadn't had his little kit with the hyperdermic^([sic]), I guess he woulda choked to death.""
- "Rains and dissolving snow swell the rivers in spring."
- "Mildly it [the wind] kist our sailes, and, fresh, and sweet, As, to a stomack sterv’d, whose insides meete, Meate comes, it came; and swole our sailes, when wee So joyd, as Sara’ her swelling joy’d to see."
Etymology
From Middle English swellen, from Old English swellan (“to swell”), from Proto-West Germanic *swellan, from Proto-Germanic *swellaną (“to swell”), of unknown origin. Cognate with Saterland Frisian swälle (“to swell”), West Frisian swolle (“to swell”), Dutch zwellen (“to swell”), Low German swellen (“to swell”), German schwellen (“to swell”), Swedish svälla (“to swell”), Icelandic svella. The adjective may derive from the noun.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: swellen, swellan, *swellan, *swellaną, swelle