overswell
/ˌoʊvɚˈswɛl/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English
15
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To swell or rise above (something, especially the rim of a container, the sides of something hollow, etc.).
Example Sentences
- "In some years the river overswells its banks, causing widespread flooding."
- "Let floods o’erswell, and fiends for food howl on!"
- "Fill, Lucius, till the wine o’erswell the cup;"
- "Come, you have made mee resolute and bould, And now receive your lapps ore-swell’d with gold."
- "1768, Ignatius Sancho, letter to Mr. M—, in Letters of the Late Ignatius Sancho, London: J. Nichols, 3rd edition, 1784, p. 13, […] the heart gratefully throbbing—overswelled with thankful sensations"
- "When mushrooms they were fairy bowers, Their marble pillars over-swelling,"
Etymology
From over- + swell.
Word Breakdown
- Prefix: over
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˌoʊvɚˈswɛl/
- British English: /əʊvəˈswɛl/
Inflected Forms
overswells (present, singular)
overswelling (participle, present)
overswelled (participle, past)
overswelled (past)
o’erswell (alternative)
over-swell (alternative)
overswells (plural)