swell
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swell¹
- /swɛl/
Rhymes with -ɛl
Where it comes from
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.
verb swells · swelling · swelled · swole · swoll · swollen
-
To become larger, fuller, or rounder, or expand in size or shape, usually as a result of pressure from within.
My ankles had swelled in the heat.
Similar: balloon
-
To cause to become bigger.
Rains and dissolving snow swell the rivers in spring.
Similar: distend
- To grow gradually in force or loudness. The organ music swelled.
- To cause to grow gradually in force or loudness. It commenced with a slow crescendo, so irresistibly lugubrious that two of our dogs at once raised their heads and swelled their voices into a responsive tremolo, which may have been heard and appreciated by their distant relatives.
- To raise to arrogance; to puff up; to inflate. to be swelled with pride or haughtiness
- To be raised to arrogance. Why, here he comes, swelling like a turkey-cock.
- To be elated; to rise arrogantly. In all things else above our humble fate Your equal mind yet swells not into state, But like some mountain in those happy Isles Where in perpetual Spring young Nature smiles, Your greatnesse shows:
- To be turgid, bombastic, or extravagant. swelling words a swelling style
- To protuberate; to bulge out. A cask swells in the middle.
swell²
- /swɛl/
Rhymes with -ɛl
Where it comes from
From Middle English swelle, from the verb swellen (modern swell).
noun swells
- The act of swelling; increase in size.
- A bulge or protuberance.
- Increase of power in style, or of rhetorical force. Concentrated are his arguments, select and distinct and orderly his topics, ready and unfastidious his expressions, popular his allusions, plain his illustrations, easy the swell and subsidence of his periods […]
- A long series of ocean waves, generally produced by wind, and lasting after the wind has ceased. the heave of a heavy ocean swell
- A gradual crescendo followed by diminuendo. He was thinking; but the glory of the song, the swell from the great organ, the clustered lights, […], the height and vastness of this noble fane, its antiquity and its strength—all these things seemed to have their part as causes of the thrilling emotion that accompanied his thoughts.
- A device for controlling the volume of a pipe organ.
- A division in a pipe organ, usually the largest enclosed division.
- A hillock or similar raised area of terrain. Off on the crest of a swell a moving figure was seen now and then. "Antelope," said the hunters.
- An upward protrusion of strata from whose central region the beds dip quaquaversally at a low angle.
-
A person who is stylish, fancy, or elegant.
It costs him no more to wear all his ornaments about his distinguished person than to leave them at home. If you can be a swell at a cheap rate, why not?
Similar: dandy, dude, toff, barbermonger, beau, blade, blood, buck, carpet knight, cockscomb, dike, dood
-
A person of high social standing; an important person.
"I am not in Mr Crosbie's confidence. He is in the General Committee Office, I know; and, I believe, has pretty nearly the management of the whole of it."
"I'll tell you what he is, Bell; Mr Crosbie is a swell." And Lilian Dale was right; Mr Crosbie was a swell.
Similar: toff
- The front brow of a saddle bow, connected in the tree by the two saddle bars to the cantle on the other end.
swell³
- /swɛl/
Rhymes with -ɛl
Where it comes from
From the noun "swell" (a person dressed in an elegant manner).
adjective sweller · swellest
- Fashionable, like a swell or dandy. We pay the express, $5 a day our new agents are making and wearing the swellest clothes besides; old agents after one season make twice as much.
- Excellent. ...you are my devoted friend too. You do more and work harder and oh shit I'd get maudlin about how damned swell you are. My god I'd like to see you... You're a hell of a good guy.
adverb
- Very well. “That lousy ring wasn’t worth no grand. I did swell to get two centuries for it.”
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: swell up, distend, puff up, cool, smashing, keen, great, bully, dandy, fop, fashion plate, beau, well up, corking, bang-up, neat
Translations
Every language
verb intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged
| Español | hincharse, inflarse |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 부풀다 bupulda, 붓다 butda, 팽창하다 paengchanghada, 부어오르다 bueooreuda |
| 日本語 | 膨れる fukureru, 隆起する ryūki-suru, 腫れる hareru |
| 中文 | 膨脹 /膨胀 péngzhàng, 擴大 /扩大 kuòdà, 隆起 lóngqǐ |
| हिन्दी | सूजना sūjnā |
| Kiswahili | fura, vimba |
| Português | inchar |
| Français | gonfler, enfler |
| Deutsch | schwellen, anschwellen |
| Italiano | gonfiarsi, ingrossarsi |
| Ελληνικά | πρήζομαι prízomai |
| Română | se umfla |
| Русский | раздува́ться razduvátʹsja, набуха́ть nabuxátʹ, увели́чиваться uvelíčivatʹsja |
| Tiếng Việt | sưng |
| العربية | اِنْتَفَخَ intafaḵa, وَرِمَ warima |
| עברית | תפח tafákh, התנפח hitnapéakh, צבה tsavá, בטבט bitbét, בצק batsák, אבב aváv |
verb to cause to become bigger
| Español | hinchar, inflar, finchar (disused) |
|---|---|
| Português | inchar |
| Français | gonfler |
| Deutsch | anschwellen lassen |
| Italiano | far gonfiare |
| Ελληνικά | πρήζω prízo |
verb to grow gradually in force or loudness
| Deutsch | anschwellen |
|---|
verb to raise to arrogance
| Deutsch | aufplustern |
|---|
verb to be raised to arrogance
| Deutsch | aufblasen |
|---|
verb to be turgid, bombastic, or extravagant
| Deutsch | geschwollen |
|---|
verb to protuberate; to bulge out
| Deutsch | anschwellen, aufwölben, ausbauchen |
|---|
noun music: device for controlling the volume of a pipe organ
| Kiswahili | kivimbe |
|---|
noun act of swelling; increase in size
| Deutsch | Anschwellen |
|---|
noun bulge or protuberance
| Deutsch | Beule |
|---|
noun increase of power in style, or of rhetorical force
| Deutsch | Anstieg |
|---|
noun series of waves, lasting after the wind has ceased
| Español | mar de fondo |
|---|---|
| 日本語 | うねり uneri |
| 中文 | 涌浪 yǒnglàng |
| Kiswahili | kivimbe |
| Português | swell |
| Français | houle |
| Deutsch | Dünung, Seegang, Wellengang, Wogen |
| Italiano | rigonfiamento, mare di fondo, flutti, onda lunga, mareggiare |
| Ελληνικά | ρεστία restía, αποθαλασσία apothalassía |
| Română | val, valuri |
| Русский | зыбь zybʹ |
| עברית | גִּבּוּעַ gibúa' |
noun music: division in pipe organ
| Kiswahili | kivimbe |
|---|
noun hillock or similar raised area of terrain
| Deutsch | Bodenerhebung, Anhöhe |
|---|
noun person of high social standing
| Deutsch | Großkopferter (Austro-Bavarian), feiner Pinkel |
|---|
adj fashionable — see also fashionable
| Deutsch | adrett |
|---|
Talk about this word "swell." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/swell. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. swell. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/swell "swell." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/swell.Cite this
@misc{swell_2026,
title = {swell},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/swell},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
