| 释义 |
▪ I. swell, n.|swɛl|
Also 3 swel, 4 swele.
[In sense 1 prob. repr. OE. ᵹeswell (:—*gaswaljo-), corresp. to MLG. geswel(le, swel, swele, MDu. geswel, swel, sweel(e (Du. gezwel); in the other senses f. swell v., q.v.]
†1. A morbid swelling. Obs.
a1225Ancr. R. 274 Auh drinc þeonne atterloðe, & drif þene swel [v.r. swalm] aȝeanward urommard þe heorte, þet is to siggen, þenc oðe attrie pinen þet God suffrede oðe rode & þe swell schal setten. 13..Seuyn Sag. (W.) 1566 He..usede sinne sodomighte. So long he pleiede with yong man, A swele in his membres cam than.
2. a. The condition of being swollen, distended, or increased in bulk; swelling or protuberant form, bulge; concr. a protuberant part, protuberance.
In technical use spec., e.g. the enlargement near the muzzle of a gun, the enlarged and thickened part of a gunstock, the entasis of a column.
1683J. Reid Scots Gard'ner (1907) 39 Grass, or brick⁓walkes may have, for thirty foot broad, six inches of swell. 1726Leoni Alberti's Archit. II. 20 The swell or belly of the shaft. 1733W. Ellis Chiltern & Vale Farm. 45 Not being able to make their growing Progress, for want of Room in the Earth, for the Swell and Multiplicity of their several Stalks. 1741Compl. Fam.-Piece iii. 512 The [pigeons called] Crappers are valuable for their Swell. 1758Reid tr. Macquer's Chym. I. 374 During the calcination of the Tin,..you perceive in several places a small swell of a certain matter which bursts. 1768Woman of Honor II. 201, I think I see the hardly suppressed swell of face of one of those immortal geniuses. 1802C. James Milit. Dict. s.v. Secure arms!, Quit the butt with the left hand, and seize the firelock with it at the swell. 1822–7Good Study Med. (1829) V. 94 When pregnancy takes place, and the uterus enlarges, the breasts exhibit a correspondent increase of swell. 1831J. Holland Manuf. Metal I. 73 The irregular swells and hollows on the surface of a casting. Ibid. 195 This bore is a piece of strong iron, ten or twelve inches in length: near to each end there is a knob or swell of steel. 1833Ibid. II. 204 The shanks consist of tubes of brass covering iron rods, and screwed together at the swells. 1846A. Marsh Father Darcy II. xix. 327 There was a slight swell in his chest—the hysterica passio of poor Lear rose..in his throat. 1848Thackeray Van. Fair xlv, Pitt looked down..at his legs, which had not..much more symmetry or swell than the lean Court sword which dangled by his side. 1849Freeman Archit. v. 88 Ornamental balusters with a single swell are found. 1876Encycl. Brit. IV. 490/1 If a column be intended to have a swell in the middle.
b. fig. Increase in amount. rare. ? Obs.
1768Woman of Honor III. 227 His plan of concealing the enormous swell of his fortune. 1842Alison Hist. Europe lxxviii. X. 1009 The augmentation of wealth, the swell of pauperism.
3. a. The rising or heaving of the sea or other body of water in a succession of long rolling waves, as after a storm; concr. such a wave, or, more usually, such waves collectively. (See also ground-swell.) Also spec. in Meteorol. and Oceanogr., wave movement persisting after the wind causing it has dropped, or due to disturbance at a distance. Contrasted with sea n. 5 d.
1606Shakes. Ant. & Cl. iii. ii. 49 The Swannes downe feather That stands vpon the Swell at the full of Tide, And neither way inclines. 1725De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 326 Fenced nowhere from the least surge or swell of the water. 1727A. Hamilton New Acc. E. Ind. II. xlii. 114 There being nothing to keep the great Swell of rolling Seas off them. 1748Anson's Voy. ii. iii. 139 A most excellent harbour..for its security against all winds and swells. 1805H. K. White Lett. Poems (1837) 266 Some tremendous swells which we weathered admirably. 1808Pike Sources Mississ. (1810) 21 My boat ploughed the swells, sometimes almost bow under. 1833H. Martineau Cinnamon & Pearls i. 13 Old Gomgode's flat-bottomed fishing⁓boat..was pitching in the rising swell. 1865Parkman Huguenots in Florida ii, Their water-casks..rocking on the long swells of subsiding gales. 1930Meteorol. Gloss. (Meteorol. Office) (ed. 2) 188 Swell is wave motion in the ocean persisting after the originating cause of the wave motion has ceased or passed away. 1957Encycl. Brit. XXIII. 442A/1 When wind-raised waves travel out of a storm area they advance as ‘swell’, and after having travelled large distances become a series of long, low and fairly regular undulations. 1977[see sea n. 5 d].
fig.1798Landor Gebir iv. 33 Such ebbs of doubt, and swells of jealousy. 1871Morley Carlyle in Crit. Misc. Ser. i. (1878) 175 The full swell and tide and energy of genius.
b. The rising of a river above its ordinary level. ? Obs.
1758Ann. Reg., Hist. War 46/2 The swell of the river had rendered all relief impossible. 1760Ibid. 38/2 Notwithstanding..the great swell of the waters..he passed the Rhine. 1769Ibid. 25/2 A sudden and extraordinary swell of the..Niester..totally destroyed the bridge. 1796Morse Amer. Geog. I. 176 Rapids; which..with a swell of two or three feet, become very passable for boats. 1812Brackenridge Views Louisiana (1814) 48 The annual swell, which is early in the spring of the year, raises the water fifty or sixty feet.
4. a. A piece of land rising gradually and evenly above the general level; a hill, eminence, or upland with a smooth rounded outline and broad in proportion to its height; a rising ground. Also, a similar feature on the sea bed; a relatively elevated part of a lithospheric plate.
Orig. with qualifying phr., e.g. swell of ground, which is still usually felt to be necessary by English writers; the absol. use is specially American.
1764Dodsley Leasowes in Shenstone's Wks. (1777) II. 308 A swell of waste furzy land, diversified with a cottage, and a road. 1792Young Trav. France (1889) 20 The swells margined with wood. 1808Pike Sources Mississ. ii. (1810) 135 The prairie rising and falling in regular swells, as far as the sight can extend. 1818Scott Rob Roy xxvii, An uninterrupted swell of moorland. 1825Longfellow Burial Minnisink 1 On sunny slope and beechen swell. 1869Parkman Disc. Gt. West xxv. 337 The grassy swells were spangled with the bright flowers for which Texas is renowned. 1908Rider Haggard Ghost Kings v. 55 Following a game-path through the dew-drenched grass which grew upon the swells and valleys of the veld. 1963G. L. Pickard Descriptive Physical Oceanogr. ii. 10 The characteristic features [of the deep-sea bottom] are..either basically long and narrow..or of roughly equal lateral extent (swells and basins). 1971Nature 30 Apr. 555/1 Many areas such as Kenya mark igneous provinces of characteristic per-alkaline magma..which are up⁓swollen portions (‘swells’) of the African plate some 1,000 km across.
b. Coal-mining. (See quots.)
1855J. Phillips Man. Geol. 193 [The seam] is..cut into ‘swills’ [sic] or ‘horse backs’, which rise up from the floor. 1882Geikie Text-Bk. Geol. (1885) 467 The stratification of the later accumulation will end off abruptly against the flanks of the older ridge, which will appear to rise up through the overlying bed. Appearances of this kind are not uncommon in coal-fields, where they are known to the miners as ‘rolls’, ‘swells’, or ‘horses' backs’. 1883Gresley Gloss. Coal-mining, Swell, a kind of fault. See Horses. Ibid., Horses or Horsebacks, natural channels cut, or washed away by water, in a coal seam, and filled up with shale and sandstone.
5. a. Of sound, esp. musical sound: Gradual increase in loudness or force; hence, a sound or succession of sounds gradually increasing in volume, or coming upon the ear more and more clearly.
1803Scott Gray Brother xxiii, The heavy knell, the choir's faint swell, Came slowly down the wind. 1822Q. Mus. Mag. IV. 35 The swell, or gradual increase of sound, is produced by opening the door of the box in which this part of the organ is inclosed. 1833Tennyson May Queen iii. viii, And up the valley came a swell of music on the wind. 1839Moore Alciphron iii. 121 There came A swell of harmony as grand As e'er was born of voice and hand. 1848–9[see flam n.2]. 1894Hall Caine Manxman vi. xii, As Philip lay alone the soar and swell of the psalm filled the room.
b. spec. in Mus. A gradual increase of force (crescendo) followed by a gradual decrease (diminuendo), in singing or playing; hence, a character composed of the crescendo and diminuendo marks together, denoting this: .
1757Foote Author Epil., Divine Mingotti! what a swell has she! 1833J. Rush Philos. Hum. Voice (ed. 2) 259 A gradual strengthening and subsequent reduction of the voice, similar to what is called a swell in the language of musical expression. 1848Rimbault First Bk. Piano. 65.
6. A contrivance for gradually varying the force of the tone in an organ or harmonium (also in the harpsichord and some early pianos), consisting of a shutter, a lid, or (now usually) a series of slats like those of a Venetian blind, which can be opened or shut at pleasure by means of a pedal or (in the harmonium) a knee-lever. Also short for swell-box, swell keyboard, or swell organ (see below).
Used attrib. in names of apparatus connected with or actuating the swell, as swell-coupler, swell keyboard, swell manual, swell pedal; swell-box, the box or chamber, containing a set of pipes or reeds, which is opened and closed by the swell in an organ or harmonium; swell organ, the set of pipes enclosed in this, forming one of the partial organs which make up a large organ.
1773Barrington in Phil. Trans. LXIII. 271 The insipidity of the upper part of the flute stop of an organ, which hath not the modern improvement of a swell. 1774Gillespy in Abridgm. Specif. Patents, Mus. (1871) 10 My new constructed principle of putting on the quills to strike the strings of a harpsichord with a peddle and swell. 1801Busby Dict. Mus. s.v., A certain quantity of pipes inclosed in a large wooden case called the Swell Box. 1822Q. Mus. Mag. IV. 35 Three..distinct sound-boards; the great organ, the choir organ, and the swell. 1865Chambers' Encycl. VII. 111/1 Above the choir-organ is the swell-organ, whose pipes are enclosed in a wooden box with a front of louvre⁓boards like venetian blinds. 1869Eng. Mech. 31 Dec. 386/1 The swell box..covers the top of the reed chest or ‘pan’. 1875Stainer & Barrett Dict. Mus. Terms s.v. Organ Construction §17 In 1712, Abraham Jordan invented the ‘Nag's-head swell’, as it was afterwards termed. It consisted of an echo organ, having, instead of a fixed front, a moveable shutter working up and down in a window sash. 1881W. E. Dickson Organ-Build. xii. 151 To give promptness to the return of the swell-pedal..by attaching a strong spiral spring to the pedal. Ibid. 155 The simplest form of swell-coupler. 1883A. J. Hipkins in Grove Dict. Mus. III. 489 The Potsdam harpsichords were made with Shudi's Venetian Swell. 1889Stainer ibid. IV. 8 The early swell⁓organs were of very limited compass... For many years the compass did not extend below tenor C..; but in all instruments with any pretension to completeness the Swell manual is made to CC, coextensive with the Great and Choir.
7. A lever in a loom (see quot.).
1894T. W. Fox Mech. Weaving xiii. 318 All looms are provided with curved levers called swells, which..serve the twofold purpose of protecting warp from being broken when a shuttle is in the shed, and also of stopping a shuttle from rebounding after entering a box.
8. The action or condition of swelling, in fig. senses.
a. Of a feeling, emotion, etc. (cf. swell v. 7). Now rare or Obs.
1702Steele Funeral iv. i. 51 It Moderates the Swell of Joy that I am in, to think of your Difficulties. 1781Cowper Charity 246 The swell of pity, not to be confin'd Within the scanty limits of the mind. 1822Lamb Elia Ser. i. Old Actors, Of all the actors who flourished in my time..Bensley had most of the swell of soul, was greatest in the delivery of heroic conceptions, the emotions consequent upon the presentment of a great idea to the fancy.
b. Proud or arrogant, or (in later use) pompous or pretentious air or behaviour; (a piece of) swagger. to cut a swell, to ‘cut a dash’, swagger. (Cf. swell v. 9, 10.) ? Obs.
1724Briton No. 28. 123 There is such a Swell and Insolence in most of those who can maintain any Degree of Mastery. 1751Johnson Rambler No. 179 ⁋4 The softness of foppery, the swell of insolence, the liveliness of levity. 1800in Spirit Pub. Jrnls. IV. 61 To see our young lords and our young gentlemen ‘cutting a swell’, as the fashionable phrase is. 1823Ibid. 232 The trio, having been to the play, agreed to call in at Smith's, by way of a swell, to get sixpennyworth of oysters each. 1847Bushnell Chr. Nurt. ii. i. (1861) 235 They practice it [sc. the child] in shows and swells and all the petty airs of foppery and brave assumption.
†c. Turgid or inflated style of language. Obs.
1742Young Nt. Th. vii. 595 Pride, like the Delphic priestess, with a swell, Rav'd nonsense, destin'd to be future sense. 1783Blair Rhet. xiii. I. 264 Sentences constructed with the Ciceronian fulness and swell. 1843Blackw. Mag. LIV. 62 The air of pretence, the craving after effect, the swell.
9. colloq., orig. slang. A fashionably or stylishly dressed person; hence, a person of good social position, a highly distinguished person.
1786Sessions Papers 13 Dec. 92/2 Here is a swell a coming. What is the meaning of that?—I do not know what meaning they give to it, without it is a gentleman. [1804Times 25 Feb., A number of young gentlemen, on the King's establishment, have lately been dismissed on account of their having formed an expensive club, under the title of the Swell!] 1811Lexicon Balatronicum, Cadge the swells, beg of the gentlemen. 1812J. H. Vaux Flash Dict., Swell, a gentleman; but any well-dressed person is emphatically termed a swell, or a rank swell. 1819Blackw. Mag. IV. 566 The third was one than whom no heavier swell Thy groaning pavement, Street of Princes, vext. 1836Marryat Midsh. Easy xviii, I never was a gentleman—only a swell. 1838J. Blackwood in Mrs. G. Porter Ann. Publishing Ho. (1898) III. 11 The Baron is a most capital fellow, and a very big swell; he is chamberlain to the King of Prussia. 1861Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. i, Pictures of old swells, bishops and lords chiefly. 1885‘Mrs. Alexander’ Valerie's Fate i, The girls were no end of swells, such lovely sable trimmings to their jackets! 1892Law Times XCIII. 459/2 The plaintiff stated that the defendant was one of the greatest swells in the City..and had often readily paid {pstlg}20 or {pstlg}30.
b. transf. One who is distinguished or eminent in achievement; one who is very clever or good at something.
1816Moore Epist. fr. Tom Crib to Big Ben 23 Having floor'd, by good luck, the first swell of the age, Having conquer'd the prime one, that mill'd us all round. 1846De Quincey Syst. Heavens Wks. 1862 III. 171 To insinuate the possibility of an error against so great a swell as Immanuel Kant. 1879E. K. Bates Egypt. Bonds I. viii. 180, I know you are a swell at that sort of thing. 1886‘Ouida’ House Party v. (1887) 82 Russians are tremendous swells at palaver,..gammon you no end.
▪ II. swell, a. colloq. Now chiefly U.S.
[attrib. use of swell n. in sense 9.]
That is, or has the character or style of, a ‘swell’; befitting a ‘swell’. a. Of persons: Stylishly or handsomely dressed or equipped; of good (social) position; of distinguished appearance or status. More recently, in weakened use as a general expression of approval.
1810in Spirit Pub. Jrnls. XV. 29 My great swell pris'ner and his pal are flown! 1823Byron Juan xi. xix, So prime, so swell [note gentlemanly], so nutty, and so knowing. 1826Sporting Mag. XVIII. 279 The two very swell coachmen who drove them out of London. 1845Disraeli Sybil vi. viii, Why are we not to interfere with politics as much as the swell ladies in London? a1876M. Collins Pen Sk. by Vanished Hand (1879) I. 113 How ‘swell’ they are! how carefully-gloved and glossily-hatted. 1890‘R. Boldrewood’ Col. Reformer xiv. (1891) 147 A decent sort of fellow belonging to swell people. 1926Maines & Grant Wise-Crack Dict. 13/1 Swell dish, very beautiful girl. 1951M. McLuhan Mech. Bride (1967) 60/2 He was a swell kid. 1977I. Shaw Beggerman, Thief ii. iii. 141 That's great. She's swell, a real lady. What a difference between her and some of the dames we had to put up with on the boat.
b. Of things: Distinguished in style; stylish; first-rate, tip-top. Also similarly weakened: ‘great’, ‘fine’, etc.
1812J. H. Vaux Flash Dict. s.v., Any thing remarkable for its beauty or elegance, is called a swell article; so, a swell crib, is a genteel house. 1831Lincoln Herald 21 Oct. p. iv/5 We had some slap-up and swell lingo against the church. 1849Thackeray Pendennis iii, A youth..appeared..in one of those costumes to which the public consent..has awarded the title of ‘Swell’. 1876C. D. Warner Wint. Nile xii. 159 It is getting to be considered that cigars are more ‘swell’ than pipes. 1897S. Crane Third Violet vii. 44 You don't look as if you had such a swell time. 1930E. H. Lavine Third Degree xi. 128 The swell time he had with the swell broads in the swell musical comedy company. 1947A. Miller All my Sons ii. 62 We're eating at the lake; we could have a swell time. 1952S. Kauffmann Tightrope viii. 142 A play like this, with a swell part for her..all that may not come along again for five years. 1968Amer. Speech XLIII. 223 It was a swell date. 1978J. Krantz Scruples iii. 77 All in all, a swell arrangement, and Spider learned a great deal during the year he was Levy's assistant.
c. swell mob, a class of pickpockets who assumed the dress and manners of respectable people in order to escape detection. Hence swell-mobsman, a man belonging to the swell mob. slang. Now Obs. or Hist.
1836Marryat Midsh. Easy xii, A man who has belonged to the swell mob is not easily repulsed. 1843Sessions Papers 6 Jan. 38, I have heard..that the prisoner is a swell mob's man. 1851Mayhew Lond. Labour (1861) II. 369/1 Swell mobsmen, and thieves, and housebreakers. 1886J. K. Jerome Idle Thoughts i. 7 He enters..giving himself really the air of a member of the swell mob. 1886D. C. Murray Cynic Fort. x, When he had worn something of the air of a dandy—or, at the worst, of a successful swell-mobsman.
d. pred. Most pleasant or kind; very effective; ‘splendid’. U.S.
1926Scribner's Mag. Aug. 198/2 He also knew that the yeggs were not trained fur-thieves... ‘They were swell on safes, but a bum would have showed better judgment on furs.’ 1931H. Crane Let. 2 June (1965) 370 Moisés has been swell to me. 1942Wodehouse Money in Bank (1946) ii. 16 You eat vegetables and breathe deep and dance around in circles. It's supposed to be swell for the soul. 1965A. Lurie Nowhere City iv. xxi. 237 Yeah; that'd be really swell, if you would.
e. int. As an expression of satisfaction.
1930D. Hammett Maltese Falcon xvii. 201 ‘She's full of gas and ready to go.’ ‘Swell.’ 1935Wodehouse Luck of Bodkins xxii. 289 ‘Swell,’ said Mabel, placing the document in her vanity-bag. 1976Daily Record (Glasgow) 22 Nov. 10/3 My fellow Scot agreed that you could call it that. ‘Swell,’ said the reporter.
▪ III. swell, v.|swɛl|
Pa. tense swelled |swɛld|; pa. pple. swollen |ˈswəʊl(ə)n|, swelled. Forms: 1 swellan, (2 3rd sing. swelð), 3–6 swelle, 6–7 swel, (5 suell, 6 Sc. swoll, 9 Sc. swall, swaul), 5– swell. pa. tense. α. 1 sweall, pl. swullon, 3–5 swal, 5 swalle, pl. swollen, 6–7, 9 dial. swole, 7–9 (arch.) swoll. β. 5 swelde, (Sc. 6 swellit, swollit, swa'd), 6– swelled. pa. pple. α. 1 -swollen, (suollaen), 4–7 swolne, (4 Sc. swolline, 5 swollyn, 6 swolen, swollne, solne, swone), 6–9 swoln, 4– swollen; 4 (i-)swolle, 5 y-swolle, suoll(e, swalle, 9 dial. swole. β. 5 i-sweld, 6 swelde, 6–7 sweld, swel'd, 5– swelled.
[Com. Teut. str. vb.: OE. swellan, pa. tense sweall, swullon, pa. pple. -swollen = OFris. *swella (in 3rd sing. swilith), OS. *swellan (in 3rd pl. suellad), MLG., MDu. (also wk.) swellen, swillen (LG. swillen, pa. tense swull, pa. pple. swullen, Du. zwellen), OHG. swellan, pa. tense swall, s(w)ullum, pa. pple. gis(w)ollan (MHG. swellen, G. schwellen, pa. tense schwoll, earlier schwall, pa. pple. geschwollen), ON. svella, pa. tense sval, sullu, pa. pple. sollinn (Sw. svälla, Norw. svelle):— OTeut. *swellan. A causative (wk.) vb. *swalljan is represented by MLG., MDu. swellen, swillen, OHG. -swellan, (MHG. swellen, G. schwellen), ON. svella; cf. Goth. ufswalleins state of being puffed up, ϕυσίωσις.
The following forms belong to various grades of the same root: (M)LG. swal (G. schwall) swollen mass of water, swall, OE. ᵹeswell, swell n., MLG. (ge)swel, Du. gezwel, MLG. swul, swuls(t), OHG. giswulst (MHG. ge-swulst, G. geschwulst, schwulst), swelling, ON. sullr boil, OE. swile, swyle, (M)LG., Fris. swil, Du. dial. zwil, OHG. swilo, (ga)suil (MHG. swil, geswil, G. schwiele) callosity.]
1. a. intr. To become larger in bulk, increase in size (by pressure from within, as by absorption of moisture, or of material in the process of growth, by inflation with air or gas, etc.); to become distended or filled out; esp. to undergo abnormal or morbid increase of size, be affected with tumour as the result of infection or injury. Also with out, up.
Beowulf 2713 (Gr.) Ða sio wund ongon..swelan ond swellan. c1000Sax. Leechd. III. 86 Wið wunda ðe swellaþ. c1205Lay. 19800 His wombe gon to swellen. a1225Ancr. R. 274 So louh wunde ne dred tu nout to sore, bute ȝif hit to swuð swelle. c1275Sinners Beware 297 in O.E. Misc. 82 For hunger ich swal þar-vte. 1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xix. 278 Shulde neuere mete ne mochel drynke Make hym to swelle. c1386Chaucer Pard. Prol. 26 If Cow or Calf or Sheepe or Oxe swelle That any worm hath ete or worm ystonge. c1400Laud Troy Bk. 4534 For tene his herte began to bollen, And bothe his chekes gret swollen. 1470–85Malory Arthur iv. xviii. 729 Whanne he had eten hit, he swalle soo tyl he brast. 1526Tindale Acts xxviii. 6 They wayted when he shulde have swolne or fallen doune deed sodently. a1578Lindesay (Pitscottie) Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.) II. 246 This serwand persaving the eird evir to ryve and to swoll quhair he stuid. 1614Purchas Pilgrimage i. ii. (ed. 2) 11 Thus doth this Globe [sc. the earth] swell out to our vse, for which it enlargeth it selfe. 1799Kirwan Geol. Ess. 284 Most probably then the pyrites swoll, uplifted the whole [etc.]. 1833N. Arnott Physics (ed. 5) II. 86 When the liquid swells out into an air or gas. 1837P. Keith Bot. Lex. 37 The vessels become convoluted and swell up into a bunch. 1853A. Soyer Pantroph. 304 They placed barley in water, and left it there until it swelled. 1860Tyndall Glac. i. xxii. 159 His knee swelled, and he walked with great difficulty. 1877Blackie Wise Men 121 The solid ground did rock, and swoll and sobbed. 1898R. Bridges Hymn Nat. iii, Every flower-bud swelleth.
b. Of a body of water: To rise above the ordinary level, as a river, or the tide; to rise in waves, as the sea in or after a storm; to rise to the brim, well up, as a spring (also said of tears).
1382Wyclif Isa. li. 15, I..am the Lord thi God, that disturbe the se, and swellen his flodis. c1435Torr. Portugal 147 He swellyd ase dothe the see. a1513Fabyan Chron. vi. ccvi. (1811) 219 He went vnto y⊇ Thamys syde, and behelde howe the water swelled or flowed. 1555Eden Decades (Arb.) 140 That south sea doth soo in maner boyle and swelle, that when it is at the hyghest it doth couer many greate rockes, which at the faule therof, are seene farre aboue the water. 1588Shakes. L.L.L. iv. iii. 37 Do but behold the teares that swell in me. 1610Holland Camden's Brit. (1637) 286 Thus farre swelleth the Tamis with the accesse of the flowing tide. 1634Milton Comus 732 The Sea o'refraught would swell. 1742Shenstone Schoolmistress 179 Her sad grief that swells in either eye. 1758Ann. Reg., Hist. War 70/1 A prodigious surf swelled all along the shore. 1812Byron Ch. Har. ii. xxviii, As breezes rise and fall and billows swell. 1813Hogg Queen's Wake, Kilmeny iv, Where the river swa'd a living stream. 1817Coleridge Biog. Lit. 268 My eyes felt as if a tear were swelling into them. 1830W. Taylor Hist. Surv. Germ. Poetry III. 337 The waters rush'd, the waters swoll. 1849Cupples Green Hand vi. (1856) 62 Now and then a bigger wave than ordinary would go swelling up. 1883Tylor in Encycl. Brit. XV. 199/2 They can bring rain and make the rivers swell.
c. Expressing form (not movement or action): To be distended or protuberant; to be larger, higher, or thicker at a certain part; to rise gradually and smoothly above the general level, as a hill.
1679Moxon Mech. Exerc. ix. 157 If the edge swell in any place, then plain off that swelling till it comply as aforesaid. 1791W. Gilpin Forest Scenery I. 183 A varied surface—where the ground swells, and falls. a1817T. Dwight Trav. New Eng., etc. (1821) II. 253 The surface here began to swell, and to be covered with oak, walnut, and chestnut. 1849Kingsley Misc. (1860) II. 240 One long grey hill after another swelled up browner and browner before them. 1859Murchison Siluria v. (ed. 3) 101 This zone of..rock varies much in dimensions..it so swells out in the parishes of Church Preen and Kenley, that [etc.]. 1869Boutell Arms & Armour iii. (1874) 44 Swelling with graceful curves in the middle of the blade.
2. a. trans. (see also 3): To make larger in bulk, increase the size of, cause to expand; to enlarge morbidly, affect with tumour. Also with out, up.
c1400Destr. Troy 13683 Fortune..Gers hym swolow a swete, þat swellis hym after. a1400–50Wars Alex. 4276 Haue we no cures of courte ne na cointe sewes Swanes ne na swete thing to swell oure wames. 1484Caxton Fables of æsop ii. xx, Men sayn comynly Swelle not thy self to thende that thow breste not. 1535Coverdale Isa. xliv. 14 The Fyrre trees which he planted himself, and soch as the rayne hath swelled. 1592Kyd Midas iii. ii, I am one of those whose tongues are swelde with silence. 1597Donne Poems, The Storme 21 Sweet, As to a stomack sterv'd, whose insides meete, Meate comes, it came; and swole our sailes. 1598Shakes. Merry W. iii. v. 16 The water swelles a man; and what a thing should I haue beene, when I had beene swel'd? 1735Johnson Lobo's Abyssinia, Descr. xv. 137 It..swell'd up my Arm, afflicting me with the most horrid Torture. c1790Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) V. 490/2 By swelling out its cheeks and gill covers to a large size. 1812J. Wilson Isle of Palms iii. 121 Till the land-breeze her canvas wings shall swell. 1818Art Bk.-binding 3 Swell, to make the back thicker by opening the foldings with the fingers. 1848Dickens Dombey x, The Major, straining with vindictiveness, and swelling every already swollen vein in his head. 1856Kane Arctic Expl. II. xxv. 247 They were to be calked and swelled and launched and stowed, before we could venture to embark in them.
b. To cause (the sea, a river, etc.) to rise in waves, as the wind, or (more usually) above the ordinary level, as rain.
1605Shakes. Lear iii. i. 6 [He] Bids the winde blow the Earth into the Sea, Or swell the curled Waters 'boue the Maine. 1662Stillingfl. Orig. Sacræ iii. iv. §6 The rain⁓water..doth..swell the Rivers which thereby run with greater force. 1697Dryden æneid xi. 607 What heaps of Trojans by this Hand were slain, And how the bloody Tyber swell'd the Main. 1709T. Robinson Nat. Hist. Westmoreld. i. 10 These slow running Rivers do gradually swell up the Sea into such a gibbosity, as contributes to that annual Flux, or overflowing of Nilus. 1813Scott Trierm. iii. v, The upland showers had swoln the rills.
3. a. In pa. pple. swollen, less usually swelled, without implication of subject (in some cases possibly belonging to the intr. sense): Increased in bulk, dilated, distended; affected with morbid enlargement or tumour.
c700Epinal Gloss. 1018 Tuber, tumor, suollaen. c1375Sc. Leg. Saints xxvii. (Machor) 1596 Sume [men] throu ydropesy sa gret Swolne þat þai ma ete no mete. 1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 299 Men [with] bocches vnder þe chyn i-swolle and i-bolled as þey he were double chynned. 1422Yonge tr. Secreta Secret. lviii. 227 Tho that haue ribbis bocchynge owtwardes like as they weryn y-swolle, bene yanglours. 1530Palsgr. 582/1 Me thynke you have the tothe ake, for your cheke is swollen. 1538Starkey England (1878) 79 In a dropcy the body..solne wyth yl humorys, lyth idul. 1605Shakes. Macb. iv. iii. 151 Strangely visited people All swolne and Vlcerous. 1637Milton Lycidas 126 The hungry Sheep..swoln with wind. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. i. 425 While yet the Head is green, or lightly swell'd With Milky-moisture. 1715Lady M. W. Montagu Let. to Lady Rich 17 June, The next morning..my face was swelled to a very extraordinary Size. 1791Mrs. Radcliffe Rom. Forest vii, With eyes swollen with weeping. 1829Chapters Phys. Sci. 173 The stomach..by being swoln out or contracted [etc.]. 1831Scott Cast. Dang. ii, His features were still swollen with displeasure. 1857Miller Elem. Chem., Org. 98 It furnishes a coke which is much swollen, caked together, and possessed of a high lustre.
b. Of a body of water, esp. a river: see 1 b, 2 b.
1588Kyd Househ. Philos. Wks. (1901) 240 The Ryuer..was swoln so high as it farre surpast the wonted limmits. 1636E. Dacres tr. Machiavel's Disc. Livy I. 72 The Alban⁓lake being miraculously sweld. 1770Langhorne Plutarch (1879) II. 673/1 A torrent swelled with sudden rains. 1810Wellington in Gurw. Desp. (1837) VII. 2 The rivulets were so much swelled yesterday that we could see nothing on their right. 1869Phillips Vesuv. ii. 30 A mere brook occasionally swollen to a torrent.
c. Of a distended form, protuberant, bulging: see 1 c.
1708J. Chamberlayne St. Gt. Brit. ii. i. ii. (1710) 327 The Countrey is generally swell'd with Hills. 1796Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 3) IV. 48 Plant pendent, cracked and swollen. 1875Encycl. Brit. II. 441/2 Friezes, instead of being sculptured, are swollen. 1877F. E. Hulme Wild Fl. p. vi, Stems forking, swollen at the nodes, about three feet high.
4. a. intr. To become greater in amount, volume, degree, intensity, or force: now only in immaterial sense (see also 6).
c1450St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 4176 His sekenes began to suell. 1598T. Bastard Chrestol. v. iv. 107 Gæta from wooll and weauing first beganne, Swelling and swelling to a gentleman... At last..He swole to be a Lord: and then he burst. 1611Shakes. Cymb. iii. i. 50 Casars Ambition, Which swell'd so much, that it did almost stretch The sides o' th' World. c1645Howell Lett. (1650) II. xxxix. 50 Divers reports for peace have swoln high for the time, but they suddenly fell low, and flat again. 1662Bk. Com. Prayer Pref., To make the number swell. 1776Gibbon Decl. & F. vi. (1782) I. 173 The murmurs of the army swelled with impunity into seditious clamours. 1854R. S. Surtees Handley Cross iv, The names which had first amounted to fifty had swelled into a hundred and thirteen. 1862Latham Channel Isl. iii. xvi. (ed. 2) 379 The number, however, soon swoll. 1895Times 10 Jan. 5/1 The ranks of the unemployed are..daily swelling.
b. Of a receptacle: To be filled to overflowing. poet, rare.
1616R. C. Times' Whistle (1871) 94 The husbandman, if that his crops proove well, Hath his heart fild with joy 'cause his barnes swell. 1908[see swelling ppl. a. 4 b].
5. a. trans. To make greater in amount, degree, or intensity; to increase, add to. Also with out, up. (See also 6 b.)
1599Marston Antonio's Rev. iii. iii, And now swarte night, to swell thy hower out, Behold I spurt warme bloode in thy blacke eyes. 1653W. Ramesey Astrol. Restored 173 It is not for me to insist on every particular in every house, for that would swell this Volume to a bulk as large again as it is. 1754Gray Pleasure 50 The simplest note that swells the gale. 1781Gibbon Decl. & F. xxi. (1787) II. 261 The presence of the monarch swelled the importance of the debate. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. x. II. 558 The prince's party was now swollen by many adherents who had previously stood aloof from it. 1867A. J. Wilson Vashti xxvii, The property left me by Mr. Evelyn swelled my estate to very unusual proportions. 1868Freeman Norm. Conq. II. App. A. 518 The Winchester Annals swell out the story into a long romance. 1874Green Short Hist. iv. § 2. 169 The long peace and prosperity of the realm [etc.]..were swelling the ranks and incomes of the country gentry.
b. To fill (a receptacle) to overflowing. poet. rare.
1601B. Jonson Poetaster iii. i, Swell me a bowle with lustie wine. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 484 The still distended Udders never fail; But when they seem exhausted swell the Pail.
c. pa. pple. (sense 4 or 5: cf. 3): Increased in amount or extent.
1641J. Jackson True Evang. T. iii. 230 A..great Commentatour upon holy Scripture; whose volumes are swelled to that proportion that they take up halfe a Classis in our publique Libraries. 1675G. Harvey Dis. Lond. 296 This Treatise being swelled beyond my Intention. 1725Wodrow Corr. (1843) III. 169, I have formed my first draught of Mr. Robert Bruce's Life, which is swelled very much.
d. To magnify; to exalt. Now rare or Obs.
1600Marston, etc. Jack Drums Entert. i. (1601) A 4 b, After your decease your issue might swell out your name with pompe. [1601Shakes. All's Well ii. iii. 134 Where great additions swell's [= swell us], and vertue none, It is a dropsied honour. ]1796Morse Amer. Geog. II. 474 The emperor's titles are swelled with all the pomp of eastern magnificence. 1827Lytton Pelham lxvii, Those which we receive as trifles, swell themselves into a consequence we little dreamt of.
6. a. intr. Of sound, esp. music: To increase in volume, become gradually louder or fuller; to come upon the ear with increasing clearness, or with alternate increase and diminution of force. Also of a musical instrument: To give forth a swelling sound or note.
1749Smollett Regicide iii. ii, The trumpet swells! 1769Gray Installation Dk. Grafton 24 Choral warblings round him swell. 1794Mrs. Radcliffe Myst. Udolpho xv, A chorus of voices and instruments now swelled on the air. 1842Tennyson Sir Galahad vii, Thro' the mountain-walls A rolling organ-harmony Swells up. 1891Farrar Darkn. & Dawn xxiv, Then the strain swelled louder.
b. trans. To utter with increase of force, or with increasing volume of sound. rare.
1775J. Steele Ess. Melody Speech 47 That speech..which I..have noted in the stile of a ranting actor, swelled with forte and softened with piano. 1824W. Irving T. Trav. I. 326 The choir swelling an anthem in that solemn building. 1833J. Rush Philos. Hum. Voice (ed. 2) 203 But if the voice is swelled to a greater stress as it descends, the grave severity and dignified conviction of the speaker becomes at once conspicuous.
7. fig. intr.
a. Of a feeling or emotion: To arise and grow in the mind with a sense as of distension or expansion.
c1386Chaucer Wife's T. 111 Hir thoughte it swal so soore aboute hir herte, That nedely som word hire moste asterte. 1421–2Hoccleve Min. Poems 96/29 The grefe abowte my harte so sore swal..That nedes oute I muste there-with-all. 1593Shakes. Rich. II, iv. i. 298 The vnseene Griefe That swells with silence in the tortur'd Soule. 1770Goldsm. Des. Vill. 82 Remembrance..Swells at my breast, and turns the past to pain. 1848Dickens Dombey liv, Her purpose swelling in her breast. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. viii. II. 304 The spirit of Englishmen..swelled up high and strong against injustice. 1902V. Jacob Sheep-Stealers ix, Something swelled up in his heart.
b. Of a person, the heart, etc.: To be affected with such an emotion; to have a mental sensation as of enlargement or expansion; to be puffed up, become elated or arrogant. Const. with (esp. pride, indignation, etc.).
c1386Chaucer Knt.'s T. 1885 Swelleth the brest of arcite and the soore Encreesseth at his herte. 14..Gower's Conf. I. 54 Sche for anger þerof swal. 1576Gascoigne Philomene xcv, Malice made Hir venging hart to swell. 1627May Lucan viii. (1631) 335 He swell'd to see Varus a suppliant growne. 1711Addison Spect. No. 93 ⁋5 His Heart burns with Devotion, swells with Hope. 1797Mrs. Radcliffe Italian i, Vivaldi's heart swelled at the mention of a rival. 1848Thackeray Van. Fair li, Little Becky's soul swelled with pride and delight at these honours. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. iii. I. 323 His stout English heart swelled with indignation at the thought. 1868Freeman Norm. Conq. (1877) II. ix. 331 Events which may well make every English heart swell with pride.
8. trans. To affect with such an emotion; to cause a sense of enlargement in; to puff up, inflate. Often in pa. pple. (which may sometimes belong to the intr. sense, 7 b); const. with. (Also said of the emotion.)
c1200Vices & Virtues 65 Scientia inflat, karitas edificat. He seið þat ðis scarpe iwitt swelð ðane mann, ðe hes haueð wiðuten charite. 14..Langland's P. Pl. C. vii. 154 (MS. F.) Ȝit I spak no speche it swal so my breste, Þat I chewed it as a cowe. a1450Knt. de la Tour cx, There be mani women that haue thayre hertys suolle fulle of pride. 1594Kyd Cornelia iii. iii. 211 Caesar, swolne with honors heate, Sits signiorizing in her seate. 1597Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, iv. v. 171 If it did..swell my Thoughts, to any straine of Pride. 1599Marston Antonio's Rev. v. i, The States of Venice are so swolne in hate Against the Duke. 1649Milton Eikon. xi. 112 What other notions..could swell up Caligula to think himself a God? c1685Pomfret Cruelty & Lust 129 Swell'd with success, and blubber'd up with pride. 1741Watts Improv. Mind i. iii. §4 You value, exalt, and swell yourself as though you were a man of learning already. 1752Hume Ess. & Treat. (1777) I. 231 Their heart, swoln with the tenderest sympathy and compassion. 1830Greville Mem. (1874) II. 65 Intoxicated with his Yorkshire honours, swollen with his own importance. 1891Hardy Tess xl, Inwardly swollen with a renewal of sentiments that he had not quite reckoned with.
9. a. intr. To show proud or angry feeling in one's action or speech; to behave proudly, arrogantly, or overbearingly; to be ‘puffed up’; to look or talk big. Obs. or arch. (partly merged in sense 10).
a1250Owl & Night. 7 Eyþer ayeyn oþer swal [v.r. sval], And let þat vuele mod vt al. 1526Tindale 1 Cor. iv. 6 That one swell nott agaynst another. Ibid. 18 Some swell as though I wolde come no more at you. 1553T. Wilson Rhet. (1580) 130 When we heare one saie, sutche a man swelled, seyng a thyng against his minde, we gather that he was then more then halfe angrie. 1583Stubbes Anat. Abus. ii. (1882) 3 Herod and Nabuchadnezer swelling in sinne, and rising vp against the maiestie of God. 1593Nashe Christ's T. Wks. 1904 II. 83 The rich Cittizen swells against the pryde of the prodigall Courtier; the prodigal Courtier swels against the welth of the Cittizen. 1599Marston Antonio's Rev. ii. ii. 109, I will not swell, like a tragedian, In forced passion of affected strains. 1648Milton Ps. lxxxiii. 5 Thy furious foes now swell And storm outrageously. a1704T. Brown Praise Poverty Wks. 1720 I. 104 Men..being obliged to discard imaginary Merit, would seek the real, wou'd swell no more on the borrow'd Greatness of Ancestors. 1706E. Ward Wooden World Diss. (1708) 79 Vex him then, and he shall swell and sputter like a roasted Apple.
b. Used in reference to turgid or inflated style of language.
1712Addison Spect. No. 285 ⁋6 He must not swell into a false Sublime, by endeavouring to avoid the other Extream.
10. To behave pompously or pretentiously, swagger; to play the ‘swell’. Also with it.
1795Wolcot (P. Pindar) Pindariana Wks. 1812 IV. 183 Tis laughable to see a Frenchman swell. 1841Punch 23 Oct. 178/2 Father Thames..has been ‘swelling it’..through some of the streets of the metropolis. As if to inculcate temperance, he walked himself down into public-house cellars, filling all the empty casks with water. 1863Tyneside Songs 22 Two sots wi' eyes a' bleary, Doon Sangyet street did swell. 1884Howells Silas Lapham (1891) I. 106, I couldn't have father swelling on so, without saying something. 1888‘R. Boldrewood’ Robbery under Arms xii, While he was swelling it in the town among the big bugs.
▪ IV. swell, adv. colloq. (now chiefly N. Amer.).|swɛl|
[f. swell a.]
In a splendid manner; very well.
1856S. Butler Let. 22 Mar. (1962) 55 Snow did very badly in the History paper and is said to have lost two places by it; a very likely thing for his principal antagonist did awfully swell in it. 1921E. O'Neill Diff'rent ii., in Emperor Jones 249 Gee, you've had this old place fixed up swell since I was to home last. 1938C. Odets Golden Boy ii. i, in Famous Plays of 1938–39 (1939) 161 You looked very good in there, Joe. You're going swell and I like it. 1984A. Lee Sarah Phillips (1985) 64 You and Daddy spend all of your lives..teaching us to live in a never-never land where people of all colors just get along swell. |