| 释义 |
overswarm, v.|-ˈswɔːm|
1. intr. and refl. To swarm to excess; to assemble in or grow to too great a swarm or crowd. [over- 27, 23.]
1587Golding De Mornay viii. (1617) 113 As folke ouer⁓swarmed in a place. 1679M. Rusden Further Disc. Bees 25 That is the cause that Bees so often overswarm themselves.
2. trans. To swarm over (a place or region); to spread over or cover with a swarm or multitude. Also absol. or intr. (quot. 1875). [over- 9.]
1632Lithgow Trav. x. 443 These Flockes of Studientes..ouer-swarme the whole land with rogueries, robberies, and begging. 1851H. Melville Whale xiv. 70 Let the English overswarm all India. 1875Browning Aristoph. Apol. 26 When wave broke and overswarmed, and, sucked To bounds back, multitudinously ceased.
3. To swarm beyond or in excess of. [over- 13.]
1897M. Kingsley W. Africa 678 If you destroy the things that prey on them, they are liable to overswarm the food-producing power of their locality.
So overˈswarming vbl. n. (from sense 2).
1598R. Grenewey Tacitus' Ann. i. Proeme (1622) 1 Untill they were by the ouerswarming of flatterers utterly discouraged. 1894Edin. Rev. Oct. 400 The successive over⁓swarming of Bulgarians, Magyars, Seljukian Turks. |