Dictionary

swell en · VERB · etymology 1

Pronunciation

• swĕl
• /swɛl/
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

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.

Meanings

1. (intransitive) To become larger, fuller, or rounder, or expand in size or shape, usually as a result of pressure from within.
   • O for a Muse of fire, that would ascend The brightest heaven of invention, A kingdom for a stage, princes to act And monarchs to behold the swelling scene! 1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act PROLOGUE, (please specify the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals)]:
   • “If you drinks a drop more, Miss Lucy, you’ll just go like my pore young sister goed, […] Pop she did not. She swole … swole and swole.” “You mean ‘swelled,’ Cookoo,” corrected Lucille […] “[…] I say she swole—and what is more she swole clean into a dropsy.” 1914, P. C. Wren, chapter 5, in Snake and Sword, London: Longmans, Green, page 78:
   • My ankles had swelled in the heat.
   • She had overheard her Mom and Mrs. Thomas from across the street talking about someone who was allergic to stings, and Mrs. Thomas had said, "Ten seconds after it gut im, poor ole Frank was swole up like a balloon. If he hadn't had his little kit with the hyperdermic^([sic]), I guess he woulda choked to death." 1999 April 6, Stephen King, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Scribner, →ISBN; republished New York, N.Y.: Pocket Books, May 2017, →ISBN, pages 67–68:
2. (transitive) To cause to become bigger.
   • For this scene, a large number of supers are engaged, and in order to further swell the crowd, practically all the available stage hands have to ‘walk on’ dressed in various coloured dominoes, and all wearing masks. 1904–1905, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], “The Affair at the Novelty Theatre”, in The Case of Miss Elliott, London: T[homas] Fisher Unwin, published 1905, →OCLC; republished as popular edition, London: Greening & Co., 1909, OCLC 11192831, quoted in The Case of Miss Elliott (ebook no. 2000141h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg of Australia, February 2020:
   • Mildly it [the wind] kist our sailes, and, fresh, and sweet, As, to a stomack sterv’d, whose insides meete, Meate comes, it came; and swole our sailes, when wee So joyd, as Sara’ her swelling joy’d to see. 1633, John Donne, “The Storme”, in Poems, London: John Marriot, page 57:
   • Rains and dissolving snow swell the rivers in spring.
   • After a harsh police crackdown last week fueled anger and swelled protests, President Dilma Rousseff, a former guerrilla who was imprisoned under the dictatorship and has now become the target of pointed criticism herself, tried to appease dissenters by embracing their cause on Tuesday. 2013 June 18, Simon Romero, “Protests Widen as Brazilians Chide Leaders”, in New York Times, retrieved 21 Jun 2013:
   • ’Tis low ebb sure with his Accuser, when such Peccadillos as these are put in to swell the Charge. 1687, Francis Atterbury, An Answer to Some Considerations on the Spirit of Martin Luther and the Original of the Reformation, Oxford, page 12:
3. (intransitive) To grow gradually in force or loudness.
   • The organ music swelled.
4. (transitive) 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. 1880, Felix Leopold Oswald, Summerland Sketches, page 57:
5. (transitive) To raise to arrogance; to puff up; to inflate.
   • to be swelled with pride or haughtiness
6. (intransitive) To be raised to arrogance.
   • […] you swell at the sight of tartan, as the bull is said to do at scarlet. 1814 July 7, [Walter Scott], chapter IX, in Waverley; or, ’Tis Sixty Years Since. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC, page 111:
   • Why, here he comes, swelling like a turkey-cock. 1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:
7. 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: 1662, John Dryden, To My Lord Chancellor Presented on New-Years-Day, London: Henry Herringman, page 5:
8. To be turgid, bombastic, or extravagant.
   • swelling words  a swelling style
9. To protuberate; to bulge out.
   • A cask swells in the middle.

Forms

Deriveds

swellfish · outswell · swelltoad · unswell · swell up · reswell · swellage · swellshark · swellable · preswell · swell hell · swellability · swell the ranks · swelly · swell out · overswell · swellhead

Synonyms

distend · balloon

Translations (184)

nl aanzwellen (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · lt brinkti (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · pl pęcznieć (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · fa ورم کردن (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · de anschwellen (to grow gradually in force or loudness) · it far gonfiare (to cause to become bigger) · cmn 隆起 (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · cs opuchnout (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · mr सुजणे (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · tet bubu (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · fi turvottaa (to cause to become bigger) · nah timalloa (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · nb svelle (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · de anschwellen lassen (to cause to become bigger) · la adaestuō (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · cs napuchnout (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · de ausbauchen (to protuberate; to bulge out) · de anschwellen (to protuberate; to bulge out) · la intumēscō (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · ko 붓다 (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · cmn 膨脹 /膨胀 (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · da erigere (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · dsb wopuchowaś (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · nl zwellen (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · gv mooadee (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · fo túsna upp (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · vi sưng (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · ru набуха́ть (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · dsb wopuchnuś (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · ca inflar-se (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · fo svølpast (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · he בצק (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · cy chwyddo (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · fr gonfler (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · th พอง (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · lt pūstis (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · bg важнича (to raise to arrogance) · lt tinti (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · fi pullistua (to protuberate; to bulge out) · da svulme (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · es inflar (to cause to become bigger) · uli boobo (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · de schwellen (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · fi ylpistyttää (to raise to arrogance) · ttj -haga (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · sq fry (to cause to become bigger) · ja 腫れる (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · hu duzzaszt (to cause to become bigger) · es finchar (disused) (to cause to become bigger) · sq ënjt (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · bg надувам се (to raise to arrogance) · oc conflar (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · ms membengkak (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · fi voimistua (to grow gradually in force or loudness) · ar وَرِمَ (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · ro se umfla (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · bg подувам се (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · th โป่ง (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · pt inchar (to cause to become bigger) · tr şişirmek (to cause to become bigger) · yi אָנשװעל (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · tyz poòng (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · bg усилвам се (to grow gradually in force or loudness) · he תפח (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · hy ուռել (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · cs naběhnout (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · la tumeō (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · cs otéci (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · eo ŝveligi (to cause to become bigger) · hu dagaszt (to cause to become bigger) · inh деста (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · la turgescō (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · de aufblasen (to be raised to arrogance) · hu kidülled (to protuberate; to bulge out) · akl habok (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · bn ফোলা (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · ru увели́чиваться (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · alt тижиир (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · bo སྦོས (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · sk opuchnúť (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · el πρήζω (to cause to become bigger) · mi whakaahu (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · fi paisuttaa (to cause to become bigger) · hu kidomborodik (to protuberate; to bulge out) · mi tōuwha (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · qu saksay (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · th บวม (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · fr enfler (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · ru раздува́ться (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · scn usciari (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · hu kidudorodik (to protuberate; to bulge out) · ja 膨れる (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · az şişirmək (to cause to become bigger) · gd sèid (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · su bareuh (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · fi ylpistyä (to be raised to arrogance) · ltg tyukšt (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · nn svelle (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · sv svälla (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · sw fura (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · gl inflarse (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · fo hovna (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · ca unflar-se (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · oc enflar (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · de aufplustern (to raise to arrogance) · ko 부풀다 (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · pl powiększać (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · gld хаоло- (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · hu megduzzad (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · zea opzwelle (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · mi whakakōpuku (to cause to become bigger) · id membengkak (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · de anschwellen (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · nn svulme (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · sq âj (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · lv tūkt (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · he אבב (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · de aufwölben (to protuberate; to bulge out) · el πρήζομαι (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · ar اِنْتَفَخَ (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · nah timalla (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · fi turvota (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · rm unflar (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · pl puchnąć (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · ota شیشمك (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · hu duzzad (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · cmn 擴大 /扩大 (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · as ফুলা (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · fo gerast hovin og trútin (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · ttj -zimba (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · bg раздувам (to cause to become bigger) · es inflarse (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · ln vimba (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · az şişmək (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · oc conflar (to cause to become bigger) · km ហើម (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · mi kōpuku (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · fo týsna upp (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · hi सूजना (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · pt inchar (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · eo ŝveli (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · ce деста (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · cs otéct (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · ota قبارمق (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · es hincharse (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · nb svulme (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · fo svølla upp (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · mi uru(h)umu (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · fi paisua (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · hu megdagad (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · de geschwollen (to be turgid, bombastic, or extravagant) · he בטבט (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · fr gonfler (to cause to become bigger) · hu dagad (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · grc οἰδέω (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · tr şişmek (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · sw vimba (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · hu felduzzaszt (to cause to become bigger) · fo bólgna (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · cs zduřet (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · he צבה (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · ko 부어오르다 (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · io intumecar (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · fa آماسیدن (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · es hinchar (to cause to become bigger) · it gonfiarsi (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · qu punkiy (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · ca rebotir (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · he התנפח (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · nl opzwellen (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · ja 隆起する (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · jv abuh (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · bo བསྐྲངས (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · ko 팽창하다 (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · fi pöyhkeillä (to be turgid, bombastic, or extravagant) · bo སྦོ (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · fo trútna (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · mi pupuhi (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · it ingrossarsi (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · gl incharse (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · hy ուռչել (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · tyz pổng (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · tyz bông (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged) · pap hincha (intransitive: to become bigger, especially due to being engorged)

wikipedia: swell

swell en · NOUN · etymology 2

Pronunciation

• swĕl
• /swɛl/
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From Middle English swelle, from the verb swellen (modern swell).

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) The act of swelling; increase in size.
2. (countable, uncountable) A bulge or protuberance.
3. (countable, uncountable) 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 […] 1826, Walter Savage Landor, Imaginary Conversations, 2nd edition, London: Henry Colburn, Volume I, Conversation 6, p. 128:
4. (countable, uncountable) A long series of ocean waves, generally produced by wind, and lasting after the wind has ceased.
   • The Tilbury-Gravesend foot passenger ferry fights its way through a high swell on the river Thames on February 16 2022. 2023 February 8, Barry Doe, “Birmingham & West Midlands Atlas is a fine production”, in RAIL, number 976, page 63, photo caption:
   • There was a great, smooth swell upon the sea. 1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, chapter 24, in Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC:
   • the heave of a heavy ocean swell
   • Now they were faced with the problem of a northerly blow, which could soon send a heavy swell clean into the bay. 1956 September, F. F. Nicholls, “Neyland, A Forgotten Harbour”, in Railway Magazine, page 632:
5. (countable, uncountable) 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. 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter V, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
6. (countable, uncountable) A device for controlling the volume of a pipe organ.
7. (countable, uncountable) A division in a pipe organ, usually the largest enclosed division.
8. (countable, uncountable) 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. 1909, Joseph A. Altsheler, chapter 2, in The Last of the Chiefs:
9. (countable, uncountable) An upward protrusion of strata from whose central region the beds dip quaquaversally at a low angle.
10. (countable, dated, informal, uncountable) 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? c. 1850, William Makepeace Thackeray, “The Kickleburys on the Rhine”, in The Christmas Books of Mr. M. A. Titmarsh:
    • He was dressed in a flashy style, not unlike what is popularly denominated a swell. 1887, Horatio Alger, chapter 9, in The Cash Boy:
    • Between the two extremes of college men the unsocial dig and the flunking swell, lies the majority, who, acknowledging the duty and merit of hard work, see the value in social and recreative line, but are at somewhat of a loss, seemingly, how to proportionize the time given to the different sides of college life, or how far to allow themselves to go on the more attractive side. 1892, Occident - Volume 22, page 36:
11. (countable, informal, uncountable) A person of high social standing; an important person.
    • ‘[…] Colleoni’s going to take over this place from you, and he’s got his lawyer. A man in London. A swell.’ 1938, Graham Greene, Brighton Rock, London: William Heinemann, →OCLC:
    • “I,” said Binet, “once saw a piece called the ‘Gamin de Paris,’ in which there was the character of an old general that is really hit off to a T. He sets down a young swell, who had seduced a working girl, who at the end———” 1886, Gustave Flaubert, chapter XIV, in Eleanor Marx-Aveling, transl., Madame Bovary: Provincial Manners […], London: Vizetelly & Co., […], →OCLC, part II, pages 239–240:
    • You buy a lot of Indian or halfbreed loafers with beaver-skins and rum, go to the Mount of the Burning Arrows, and these fellows dance round you and call you one of the lost race, the Mighty Men of the Kimash Hills. And they'll do that while the rum lasts. Meanwhile you get to think yourself a devil of a swell—you and the gods! 1906, Gilbert Parker, chapter 8, in The Trespasser:
    • "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. 1862 September – 1864 April, Anthony Trollope, chapter 2, in The Small House at Allington. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], published April 1864, →OCLC:
    • The only sensible man I came across was the cabman who drove me about. A broken-down swell he was, I fancy. 1899 September – 1900 July, Joseph Conrad, Lord Jim: A Tale, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, published 1900, →OCLC, page 176:
12. (countable, uncountable) The front brow of a saddle bow, connected in the tree by the two saddle bars to the cantle on the other end.

Forms

Deriveds

outswell · upswell · one swell foop · swellish · volume swell · swell-mobsman · swell box · swelldom · underswell · swell-headed · knee swell · swell organ · groundswell · wind swell · swell paper · swell mob · ground swell · shrink-swell · Venetian swell

Synonyms

exquisite · dude · macaroni · cockscomb · masher · toff · carpet knight · gallant · smart · tippy · jack-a-dandy · petit maître · toff · fast man · jetter · metrosexual · toff · blood · dandy · fine gentleman · dude · fork · puss-gentleman · spiff · swell · foretop · fribble · go · spark · fashionable · dandy · dike · prig · Jemmy-Jessamy · pretty boy · popinjay · beau · mignon · fop · blade · pommel · buck · dudelet · dood · barbermonger

Translations (78)

it flutti (series of waves, lasting after the wind has ceased) · sv dyning (series of waves, lasting after the wind has ceased) · mi āmai (series of waves, lasting after the wind has ceased) · fi paisuminen (act of swelling; increase in size) · fi maininki (series of waves, lasting after the wind has ceased) · de Stutzer (person who dresses in a fancy or elegant manner) · it mare di fondo (series of waves, lasting after the wind has ceased) · pl falowanie (series of waves, lasting after the wind has ceased) · mi tārawa (series of waves, lasting after the wind has ceased) · oc estòbi (series of waves, lasting after the wind has ceased) · fi maaston kohouma (hillock or similar raised area of terrain) · de Geck (person who dresses in a fancy or elegant manner) · mi huaroa (series of waves, lasting after the wind has ceased) · de Anschwellen (act of swelling; increase in size) · de Anhöhe (hillock or similar raised area of terrain) · de Dünung (series of waves, lasting after the wind has ceased) · it rigonfiamento (series of waves, lasting after the wind has ceased) · oc mar de fons (series of waves, lasting after the wind has ceased) · bg възвишение (hillock or similar raised area of terrain) · fr houle (series of waves, lasting after the wind has ceased) · de Seegang (series of waves, lasting after the wind has ceased) · fi svellari (music: gradual crescendo followed by diminuendo) · ja うねり (series of waves, lasting after the wind has ceased) · oc marejada (series of waves, lasting after the wind has ceased) · fi keikari (person who dresses in a fancy or elegant manner) · hu hullámverés (series of waves, lasting after the wind has ceased) · bg денди (person who dresses in a fancy or elegant manner) · hu hullámzás (series of waves, lasting after the wind has ceased) · es mar de fondo (series of waves, lasting after the wind has ceased) · bg раздуване (act of swelling; increase in size) · mi amotai (series of waves, lasting after the wind has ceased) · de Beule (bulge or protuberance) · nb dønning (series of waves, lasting after the wind has ceased) · sa क्षोदस् (series of waves, lasting after the wind has ceased) · bg мъртво вълнение (series of waves, lasting after the wind has ceased) · he גִּבּוּעַ (series of waves, lasting after the wind has ceased) · ja 起伏 (music: gradual crescendo followed by diminuendo) · it mareggiare (series of waves, lasting after the wind has ceased) · de Anstieg (increase of power in style, or of rhetorical force) · la tumor (series of waves, lasting after the wind has ceased) · de Wellengang (series of waves, lasting after the wind has ceased) · gl mar de fondo (series of waves, lasting after the wind has ceased) · de feiner Pinkel (person of high social standing) · de Wogen (series of waves, lasting after the wind has ceased) · it onda lunga (series of waves, lasting after the wind has ceased) · sv svall (series of waves, lasting after the wind has ceased) · sw kivimbe (series of waves, lasting after the wind has ceased) · mi tai whakarākau (series of waves, lasting after the wind has ceased) · de Bodenerhebung (hillock or similar raised area of terrain) · ota صالندی (series of waves, lasting after the wind has ceased) · fi herra (person of high social standing) · nah timalloa (series of waves, lasting after the wind has ceased) · bg изпъкналост (bulge or protuberance) · ro val (series of waves, lasting after the wind has ceased) · ga mórtas (series of waves, lasting after the wind has ceased) · gl vaga (series of waves, lasting after the wind has ceased) · lv bangas (series of waves, lasting after the wind has ceased) · pt swell (series of waves, lasting after the wind has ceased) · de Großkopferter (Austro-Bavarian) (person of high social standing) · nah timalla (series of waves, lasting after the wind has ceased) · fi nousu (increase of power in style, or of rhetorical force) · fi komeljanttari (person who dresses in a fancy or elegant manner) · sw kivimbe (music: division in pipe organ) · fi patti (bulge or protuberance) · cmn 涌浪 (series of waves, lasting after the wind has ceased) · fi uloke (bulge or protuberance) · nl deining (series of waves, lasting after the wind has ceased) · mi huene (series of waves, lasting after the wind has ceased) · sw kivimbe (music: device for controlling the volume of a pipe organ) · bg франт (person who dresses in a fancy or elegant manner) · da dønning (series of waves, lasting after the wind has ceased) · sw kivimbe (music: gradual crescendo followed by diminuendo) · nn dønning (series of waves, lasting after the wind has ceased) · el ρεστία (series of waves, lasting after the wind has ceased) · fi turpoaminen (act of swelling; increase in size) · ro valuri (series of waves, lasting after the wind has ceased) · el αποθαλασσία (series of waves, lasting after the wind has ceased) · ru зыбь (series of waves, lasting after the wind has ceased)

wikipedia: swell

swell en · ADJ · etymology 3

Pronunciation

• swĕl
• /swɛl/
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From the noun "swell" (a person dressed in an elegant manner).

Meanings

1. (dated, not-comparable, usually) 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. 1912, Popular Mechanics, page 20:
2. (Canada, US, dated, not-comparable, slang, usually) Excellent.
   • […] we’re league champions in basketball and our square-dance team is state runner-up and we have a swell sock hop every Wednesday. 1958, Robert A. Heinlein, Have Space Suit—Will Travel, page 8:
   • Jeff swaggered over to Ned Beaumont, threw his left arm roughly around his shoulders, seized Ned Beaumont’s right hand with his right hand, and addressed the company jovially: “This is the swellest guy I ever skinned a knuckle on and I’ve skinned them on plenty.” 1931, Dashiell Hammett, The Glass Key, page 176:
   • Orgasms are swell, but they are not the remedy to every injustice. 2012 September 10, Ariel Levy, “The Space In Between”, in The New Yorker:
   • He was telling us all about what a swell guy he was, what a hot-shot and all, […] 1951 July 16, J[erome] D[avid] Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye, Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown and Company, →OCLC, page 23:
   • ...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. 1927 Mar. 31, Ernest Hemingway, letter to F. Scott Fitzgerald

Forms

Deriveds

swellness · swellegant

Translations (27)

hu klassz (excellent — see also excellent) · hu tök jó (excellent — see also excellent) · bg елегантен (fashionable — see also fashionable) · ro senzațional (excellent — see also excellent) · es excelente (excellent — see also excellent) · nl mieters (excellent — see also excellent) · ro minunat (excellent — see also excellent) · pt excelente (excellent — see also excellent) · fi makea (fashionable — see also fashionable) · ru превосхо́дный (excellent — see also excellent) · pt ótimo (excellent — see also excellent) · de klasse (excellent — see also excellent) · de prima (excellent — see also excellent) · ru отли́чный (excellent — see also excellent) · bg отличен (excellent — see also excellent) · fr chouette (excellent — see also excellent) · de adrett (fashionable — see also fashionable) · nl geweldig (excellent — see also excellent) · ja 素晴らしい (excellent — see also excellent) · ro super (excellent — see also excellent) · hu szuper (excellent — see also excellent) · fi siisti (fashionable — see also fashionable) · fi mahtava (excellent — see also excellent) · bg първокласен (excellent — see also excellent) · fr sensass (excellent — see also excellent) · ca excel·lent (excellent — see also excellent) · bg моден (fashionable — see also fashionable)

wikipedia: swell

swell en · ADV · etymology 3

Pronunciation

• swĕl
• /swɛl/
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From the noun "swell" (a person dressed in an elegant manner).

Meanings

1. (Canada, US, informal, not-comparable) Very well.
   • “That lousy ring wasn’t worth no grand. I did swell to get two centuries for it.” 1929, Dashiell Hammett, chapter 12, in Red Harvest:
   • “[…] Last August, when I left The Walls, I figured I had every chance to start new. I got a job in Olathe, lived with my family, and stayed home nights. I was doing swell—” 1966, Truman Capote, In Cold Blood, New York: Modern Library, published 2013, Part 3, p. 251:

Translations (6)

bg отлично (very well) · de prima (very well) · fi hyvin (very well) · de super (very well) · de glücklich (very well) · fi hienosti (very well)

wikipedia: swell