| 释义 |
swelt, v. Now dial.|swɛlt|
Forms: 1 sweltan, 2–4 swelten, (Orm. swelltenn), 4–6 swelte, (4 suelt, squelt, swellte, 5, 8 swalt), 4– swelt. pa. tense 1 swealt, pl. swulton, Northumb. weak -suelte, 3 Orm. swallt, pl. swulltenn, 4–5 swalt, swelte, 4–6 suelt, swelt, 4– swelted, (9 sweltit, swilted). pa. pple. 1 ᵹeswolten, 4, 7 swelt, 5 sweltid, 6 swolt, 6– swelted.
[Com. Teut. str. vb.: OE. sweltan, pa. tense swealt, swulton, pa. pple. ᵹeswolten = OS. sweltan, pa. tense swalt to die, MDu. swelten to faint, die, OHG. swelzan (MHG. swelzen) to burn away, languish, ON. svelta, pa. tense svalt, sultu, pa. pple. soltinn to die, starve, (Sw. svälta, svalt, sultin to die of hunger, Da. sulte to hunger, starve, back-formation f. pa. pple. sulten hungry, dial. svelta, pa. tense svalt, svolt, pa. pple. svolten, svulten, svoltet), Goth. swiltan, pa. tense swalt, swultum, pa. pple. swultans to die.
The Teut. root swelt-: swalt-: swult- appears also in ON. svelta (causative) to put to death, starve, Crim-Gothic swalth death, Goth. swultawaírþja near to death, ON. sultr hunger (MSw. sulter, Da. sult, dial. svolt, svult), OE. swylt (:—*swultiz) death, swyltan to die, and prob. sulter. It is perhaps a secondary formation on the root swel- to burn slowly (see sweal v.). As in other Germanic languages, the word has in ME. the sense of ‘faint, languish’, which is not, however, recorded for OE.]
I. intr.
1. To die, perish.
Beowulf 892 (Gr.) Draca morðre swealt. c888ælfred Boeth. x. §1 Mæneᵹum men is leofre þæt he ær self swelte ær he ᵹesio his wif & his bearn sweltende. c1000ælfric Saints' Lives iii. 592 Þu scealt sweltan synna and criste lybban. c1000― Exod. xxi. 12 Se þe mann þe wundað and wyle hine ofslean swelte he deaðe. c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 181 Gief þu etest of þe forbodene trewe, þu shalt adeðe swelte. c1200Ormin 5321 Þe Laferrd Cristess posstles, Þatt..forr to reȝȝsenn Crisstenndom, Full bliþelike swulltenn. 13..E.E. Allit. P. A. 816 For vus he swalt in Ierusalem. c1375Sc. Leg. Saints xvii. (Martha) 197 Vith þat scho swelt, & gawe þe gest. a1400Minor Poems fr. Vernon MS. 615/111 For to winne al þis werld Þat swelte vndur þe deueles swerd. c1400Destr. Troy 10905 With swappis of hor swordes swelt mony knightes. c1460Towneley Myst. xxi. 280 My hart is fulle cold nerehand that I swelt. 1513Douglas æneis viii. Prol. 5 Swownand as he suelt wald. 1535Stewart Cron. Scot. (Rolls) I. 144 Mony ane swolt and mony fell in swoun. Ibid. II. 661 He slew him self thair suddantlie and suelt. 1794W. Hutchinson Hist. Cumbld. I. 220 note, Provincial words: swelting for expiring. 1897in Eng. Dial. Dict.
2. To be ready to perish with the force of strong emotion, or a fit of sickness; to be overcome, faint, swoon.
In the 16th c. the notion of fainting from the heat of emotion prevailed: cf. 3.
c1320Sir Tristr. 242 Sorwe it was to se, Þat leuedi swelted swiþe. c1350Will. Palerne 4268 Sche swelt for sorwe & swoned rit þere. c1374Chaucer Troylus iii. 347 His olde wo þat made his herte to swelte. c1400Destr. Troy 8319 With Swym vnder swerd swalton full mony. c1430Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 38 Aboute his hert he thoughte he gan to swelt. a1450Knt. de la Tour xxxiv, God..sent the ladi suche a sodein sikenesse that she swalt there she stode, and that no man wost whedir she shulde leue or deye. c1480Henryson Mor. Fab., Fox, Wolf & Cadger xxxiii, He..hit him with sic will vpoun the heid, Quhill neir he swonit and swalt [v.r. swelt]. 1565Golding Ovid's Met. iii. (1593) 70, I do both set on fire, And am the same that swelteth too through impotent desire. 1575Gascoigne Dan Bartholomew Wks. 1907 I. 109 When absent Troylus did in sorowes swelt. 1596Spenser F.Q. iv. vii. 9 Her deare hart nigh swelt, And eft gan into tender teares to melt. a1643W. Cartwright Ordinary iii. i, I swelt here as I go; Brenning in fire of little Cupido. 1691Nicholson in Ray N.C. Words 149 To Swelt, deficere, to Sownd. 1703E. West in Mem. (1865) 216, I was in such an extreme trouble that..vent it must have, or then I must swelt. 1836M. Mackintosh Cottager's Daughter 99 When she heard that she sweltit at their feet. 1850Tales Kirkbeck Ser. ii. 197, I felt sae sick and unsattled, an' then a' at ance I clean swilted awa.
3. To be overpowered or faint with heat; to suffer oppressive heat, swelter, ‘melt’. † Also refl.
c1386Chaucer Miller's T. 516 Wel litel thynken ye..That for youre loue I swete ther I go, No wonder is thogh that I swelte and swete. c1400Laud Troy Bk. 9278 Many on swalt In his owne gres. a1500Flower & Leaf (Skeat) 360 The ladies eek to-brent..The Knightes swelt, for lak of shade ny shent. 1583B. Melbancke Philotimus E e j, Here did Philotimus that swet and swelted almost, sette himselfe to refreshe his weakned limmes. 1591Sylvester Du Bartas i. v. 271 In a cold sweat, shaking, and swelt almost. 1600Morley Madrigals to fovre Voices xvii, Soft a while, not away so fast, they melt them. Piper! Piper! Piper! Be hang'd a while knaue, looke, the dauncers swelt them. 1614Gorges Lucan i. 39 The Fire would then the Earth haue melt, And with thy flames the heau'ns haue swelt. 1768Ross Helenore ii. 82 Wi' faut an' heat I just was like to swelt, An' in a very blob o' sweat to melt. 1820Keats Isabella xiv, And for them many a weary hand did swelt In torched mines and noisy factories.
†b. To burn or rage as with fever. Obs.
1590Spenser F.Q. i. vii. 6 Till..chearefull bloud in faintnesse chill did melt, Which like a feuer fit through all his body swelt. Ibid. iii. xi. 27 With huge impatience he inly swelt.
†4. To exude with heat. Obs.
c1530Judic. Urines i. ii. 2 All the Iuce and all the humydyte sweteth and swelteth oute of hym to the lyuer. Ryght as mylke swelteth & sweteth oute of the koowes body in to the vdder. 1614Gorges Lucan x. 445 Each where the pitch and tarre that melts Amongst the timbers burning swelts.
†b. To be oppressive with heat, swelter. Obs.
1630J. Taylor (Water P.) Anagrams & Sonn. Wks. ii. 256 The dogged dog daies now with heat doe swelt.
†5. ? To welter, wallow (fig.). Obs.
1575Gascoigne Dan Bartholomew Wks. 1907 I. 105 When he thought his hap to be most hye,..And that he swelt in all prosperitie.
II. trans.
†6. To cause to perish. Obs.
Perhaps partly ad. ON. svelta, causative of svelta; but cf. forswelt 2.
13..K. Alis. 7559 (Linc. Inn MS.) To brenne brout and to beo swelt. 13..E.E. Allit. P. B. 332 Þis meyny of aȝte I schal saue of monnez saulez, and swelt þose oþer.
7. To overheat, broil, scorch; to oppress or overwhelm with heat; also in fig. phr. to swelt one's heart, to exert oneself to the utmost. Now dial.
a1400–50Wars Alex. 3790 Alle ware þai swollen of þe swete & sweltid on þe son. 1555W. Watreman Fardle Facions i. vi. 98 When thei see the Locustes come..thei set al on fire, and so swelte theim in the passyng ouer, that thei..fall to the grounde. 1584R. Wilson Three Ladies Lond. i. C j, He shall neuer haue better eating fellowes if hee woulde swelte his hart. 1599Nashe Lenten Stuffe Wks. 1905 III. 221 Let the cunningest lickespiggot swelt his heart out, the beere shal neuer foame or froath in the cupp. 1608Sylvester Du Bartas ii. iv. iii. Schism 413 Not a breath is felt, But hectick Auster's, which doth all things swelt. 1651Bp. Hall Soliloquies lxxiv, Is the Sun to be blamed that the Travellers cloak swelts him with heat? 1684Meriton Yorks. Dial. 525 (E.D.S.) If we sud swelt our hearts, it will nut deau. 1811Willan in Archaeologia XVII. 160 (W. Riding Words), Swelted, overcome with heat and perspiration. 1886S.W. Linc. Gloss. s.v., It's so hot it's fit to swelt you. |