Pa. t. swelled; pa. pple. swollen, 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. t. 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. t. 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. t. swull, pa. pple. swullen, Du. zwellen), OHG. swellan, pa. t. swall, s(w)ullum, pa. pple. gis(w)ollan (MHG. swellen, G. schwellen, pa. t. schwoll, earlier schwall, pa. pple. geschwollen), ON. svella, pa. t. 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. ʓeswell, SWELL sb., 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. 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 tumor as the result of infection or injury. Also with out, up.
Beowulf, 2713 (Gr.). Ða sio wund ongon … swelan ond swellan.
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., III. 86. Wið wunda ðe swellaþ.
c. 1205. Lay., 19800. His wombe gon to swellen.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 274. So louh wunde ne dred tu nout to sore, bute ȝif hit to swuð swelle.
c. 1275. Sinners Beware, 297, in O. E. Misc., 82. For hunger ich swal þar-vte.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. XIX. 278. Shulde neuere mete ne mochel drynke Make hym to swelle.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Pard. Prol., 26. If Cow or Calf or Sheepe or Oxe swelle That any worm hath ete or worm ystonge.
c. 1400. Laud Troy Bk., 4534. For tene his herte began to bollen, And bothe his chekes gret swollen.
1470–85. Malory, Arthur, IV. xviii. 729. Whanne he had eten hit, he swalle soo tyl he brast.
1526. Tindale, Acts xxviii. 6. They wayted when he shulde have swolne or fallen doune deed sodently.
a. 1578. Lindesay (Pitscottie), Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.), II. 246. This serwand persaving the eird evir to ryve and to swoll quhair he stuid.
1614. Purchas, Pilgrimage, I. ii. (ed. 2), 11. Thus doth this Globe [sc. the earth] swell out to our vse, for which it enlargeth it selfe.
1799. Kirwan, Geol. Ess., 284. Most probably then the pyrites swoll, uplifted the whole [etc.].
1833. N. Arnott, Physics (ed. 5), II. 86. When the liquid swells out into an air or gas.
1837. P. Keith, Bot. Lex., 37. The vessels become convoluted and swell up into a bunch.
1853. Soyer, Pantroph., 304. They placed barley in water, and left it there until it swelled.
1860. Tyndall, Glac., I. xxii. 159. His knee swelled, and he walked with great difficulty.
1877. Blackie, Wise Men, 121. The solid ground did rock, and swoll and sobbed.
1898. R. 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).
1382. Wyclif, Isa. li. 15. I … am the Lord thi God, that disturbe the se, and swellen his flodis.
c. 1435. Torr. Portugal, 147. He swellyd ase dothe the see.
a. 1513. Fabyan, Chron., VI. ccvi. (1811), 219. He went vnto ye Thamys syde, and behelde howe the water swelled or flowed.
1555. Eden, 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.
1588. Shaks., L. L. L., IV. iii. 37. Do but behold the teares that swell in me.
1610. Holland, Camden’s Brit. (1637), 266. Thus farre swelleth the Tamis with the accesse of the flowing tide.
1634. Milton, Comus, 732. The Sea o’refraught would swell.
1742. Shenstone, Schoolmistress, 179. Her sad grief that swells in either eye.
1758. Ann. Reg., Hist. War, 70/1. A prodigious surf swelled all along the shore.
1812. Byron, Ch. Har., II. xxviii. As breezes rise and fall and billows swell.
1813. Hogg, Queen’s Wake, Kilmeny, iv. Where the river swa’d a living stream.
1817. Coleridge, Biog. Lit., 268. My eyes felt as if a tear were swelling into them.
1830. W. Taylor, Hist. Surv. Germ. Poetry, III. 337. The waters rush’d, the waters swoll.
1849. Cupples, Green Hand, vi. (1856), 62. Now and then a bigger wave than ordinary would go swelling up.
1883. Tylor, 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.
1679. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., ix. 157. If the edge swell in any place, then plain off that swelling till it comply as aforesaid.
1791. W. Gilpin, Forest Scenery, I. 183. A varied surface—where the ground swells, and falls.
a. 1817. T. Dwight, Trav. New Eng., etc. (1821), II. 253. The surface here began to swell, and to be covered with oak, walnut, and chestnut.
1849. Kingsley, Misc. (1860), II. 240. One long grey hill after another swelled up browner and browner before them.
1859. Murchison, 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.].
1869. Boutell, Arms & Armour, iii. (1874), 44. Swelling with graceful curves in the middle of the blade.
2. trans. (see also 3): To make larger in bulk, increase the size of, cause to expand; to enlarge morbidly, affect with tumor. Also with out, up.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 13683. Fortune … Gers hym swolow a swete, þat swellis hym after.
a. 1400–50. Wars Alex., 4276. Haue we no cures of courte ne na cointe sewes Swanes ne na swete thing to swell oure wames.
1484. Caxton, Fables of Æsop, II. xx. Men sayn comynly Swelle not thy self to thende that thow breste not.
1535. Coverdale, Isa. xliv. 14. The Fyrre trees which he planted himself, and soch as the rayne hath swelled.
1592. Kyd, Midas, III. ii. I am one of those whose tongues are swelde with silence.
1597. Donne, Poems, The Storme, 21. Sweet, As to a stomack sterv’d, whose insides meete, Meate comes, it came; and swole our sailes.
1598. Shaks., Merry W., III. v. 16. The water swelles a man; and what a thing should I haue beene, when I had beene swel’d?
1735. Johnson, Lobo’s Abyssinia, Descr., xv. 137. It … swell’d up my Arm, afflicting me with the most horrid Torture.
c. 1790. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3), V. 490/2. By swelling out its cheeks and gill covers to a large size.
1812. J. Wilson, Isle of Palms, III. 121. Till the land-breeze her canvas wings shall swell.
1818. Art Bk.-binding, 3. Swell, to make the back thicker by opening the foldings with the fingers.
1848. Dickens, Dombey, x. The Major, straining with vindictiveness, and swelling every already swollen vein in his head.
1856. Kane, 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.
1605. Shaks., Lear, III. i. 6. [He] Bids the winde blow the Earth into the Sea, Or swell the curled Waters ’boue the Maine.
1662. Stillingfl., Orig. Sacræ, III. iv. § 6. The rain-water … doth … swell the Rivers which thereby run with greater force.
1697. Dryden, Æneid, XI. 607. What heaps of Trojans by this Hand were slain, And how the bloody Tyber swell’d the Main.
1709. T. 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.
1813. Scott, Trierm., III. v. The upland showers had swoln the rills.
3. 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 tumor.
c. 700. Epinal Gloss., 1018. Tuber, tumor, suollaen.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, xxvii. (Machor), 1596. Sume [men] throu ydropesy sa gret Swolne þat þai ma ete no mete.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), I. 299. Men [with] bocches vnder þe chyn i-swolle and i-bolled as þey he were double chynned.
1422. Yonge, trans. Secreta Secret., lviii. 227. Tho that haue ribbis bocchynge owtwardes like as they weryn y-swolle, bene yanglours.
1530. Palsgr., 582/1. Me thynke you have the tothe ake, for your cheke is swollen.
1538. Starkey, England (1878), 79. In a dropcy the body … solne wyth yl humorys, lyth idul.
1605. Shaks., Macb. IV. iii. 151. Strangely visited people All swolne and Vlcerous.
1637. Milton, Lycidas, 120. The hungry Sheep … swoln with wind.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., I. 425. While yet the Head is green, or lightly swell’d With Milky-moisture.
1715. Lady M. W. Montagu, Lett. to Lady Rich, 17 June. The next morning … my face was swelled to a very extraordinary Size.
1791. Mrs. Radcliffe, Rom. Forest, vii. With eyes swollen with weeping.
1829. Chapters Phys. Sci., 173. The stomach … by being swoln out or contracted [etc.].
1831. Scott, Cast. Dang., ii. His features were still swollen with displeasure.
1857. Miller, 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.
1588. Kyd, Househ. Philos., Wks. (1901), 240. The Ryuer … was swoln so high as it farre surpast the wonted limmits.
1636. E. Dacres, trans. Machiavel’s Disc. Livy, I. 72. The Alban-lake being miraculously sweld.
1770. Langhorne, Plutarch (1879), II. 673/1. A torrent swelled with sudden rains.
1810. Wellington, in Gurw., Desp. (1837), VII. 2. The rivulets were so much swelled yesterday that we could see nothing on their right.
1869. Phillips, Vesuv., ii. 30. A mere brook occasionally swollen to a torrent.
c. Of a distended form, protuberant, bulging: see 1 c.
1708. J. Chamberlayne, St. Gt. Brit., II. I. ii. (1710), 327. The Countrey is generally swell’d with Hills.
1796. Withering, Brit. Plants (ed. 3), IV. 48. Plant pendent, cracked and swollen.
1875. Encycl. Brit., II. 441/2. Friezes, instead of being sculptured, are swollen.
1877. F. E. Hulme, Wild Fl., p. vi. Stems forking, swollen at the nodes, about three feet high.
4. intr. To become greater in amount, volume, degree, intensity, or force: now only in immaterial sense (see also 6).
c. 1450. St. Cuthbert (Surtees), 4176. His sekenes began to suell.
1598. 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.
1611. Shaks., Cymb., III. i. 50. Casars Ambition, Which swell’d so much, that it did almost stretch The sides o’ th’ World.
c. 1645. Howell, Lett. (1650), II. xxxix. 50. Divers reports for peace have swoln high for the time, but they suddenly fell low, and flat again.
1662. Bk. Com. Prayer, Pref. To make the number swell.
1776. Gibbon, Decl. & F., vi. (1782), I. 173. The murmurs of the army swelled with impunity into seditious clamours.
1854. R. S. Surtees, Handley Cross, iv. The names which had first amounted to fifty had swelled into a hundred and thirteen.
1862. Latham, Channel Isl., III. xvi. (ed. 2), 379. The number, however, soon swoll.
1895. Times, 10 Jan., 5/1. The ranks of the unemployed are … daily swelling.
b. Of a receptacle: To be filled to overflowing. poet. rare.
1616. R. 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. trans. To make greater in amount, degree, or intensity; to increase, add to. Also with out, up. (See also 6 b.)
1599. Marston, Antonio’s Rev., III. iii. And now swarte night, to swell thy hower out, Behold I spurt warme bloode in thy blacke eyes.
1653. W. 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.
1754. Gray, Pleasure, 50. The simplest note that swells the gale.
1781. Gibbon, Decl. & F., xxi. (1787), II. 261. The presence of the monarch swelled the importance of the debate.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., x. II. 558. The prince’s party was now swollen by many adherents who had previously stood aloof from it.
1867. Augusta Wilson, Vashti, xxvii. The property left me by Mr. Evelyn swelled my estate to very unusual proportions.
1868. Freeman, Norm. Conq., II. App. A. 518. The Winchester Annals swell out the story into a long romance.
1874. Green, 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.
1601. B. Jonson, Poetaster, III. i. Swell me a bowle with lustie wine.
1697. Dryden, 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.
1641. J. 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.
1675. G. Harvey, Dis. Lond., 296. This Treatise being swelled beyond my Intention.
1725. Wodrow, 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.
1600. Marston, etc., Jack Drums Entert., I. (1601), A 4 b. After your decease your issue might swell out your name with pompe.
[1601. Shaks., All’s Well, II. iii. 134. Where great additions swell’s [= swell us], and vertue none, It is a dropsied honour.]
1796. Morse, Amer. Geog., II. 474. The emperor’s titles are swelled with all the pomp of eastern magnificence.
1827. Lytton, Pelham, lxvii. Those which we receive as trifles, swell themselves into a consequence we little dreamt of.
6. 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.
1749. Smollett, Regic., III. ii. The trumpet swells!
1769. Gray, Installation Dk. Grafton, 24. Choral warblings round him swell.
1794. Mrs. Radcliffe, Myst. Udolpho, xv. A chorus of voices and instruments now swelled on the air.
1842. Tennyson, Sir Galahad, vii. Thro’ the mountain-walls A rolling organ-harmony Swells up.
1891. Farrar, Darkn. & Dawn, xxiv. Then the strain swelled louder.
b. trans. To utter with increase of force, or with increasing volume of sound. rare.
1775. J. 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.
1824. W. Irving, T. Trav., I. 326. The choir swelling an anthem in that solemn building.
1833. J. 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.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Wife’s T., 111. Hir thought it swal so soore aboute hir herte, That nedely som word hire moste asterte.
1421–2. Hoccleve, Min. Poems, 96/29. The grefe abowte my harte so sore swal … That nedes oute I muste there-with-all.
1593. Shaks., Rich. II., IV. i. 298. The vnseene Griefe That swells with silence in the tortur’d Soule.
1770. Goldsm., Des. Vill., 82. Remembrance … Swells at my breast, and turns the past to pain.
1848. Dickens, Dombey, liv. Her purpose swelling in her breast.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., viii. II. 304. The spirit of Englishmen … swelled up high and strong against injustice.
1902. Violet 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.).
c. 1386. Chaucer, 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.
1576. Gascoigne, Philomene, xcv. Malice made Hir venging hart to swell.
1627. May, Lucan, VIII. (1631), 335. He swell’d to see Varus a suppliant growne.
1711. Addison, Spect., No. 93, ¶ 5. His Heart burns with Devotion, swells with Hope.
1797. Mrs. Radcliffe, Italian, i. Vivaldi’s heart swelled at the mention of a rival.
1848. Thackeray, Van. Fair, li. Little Becky’s soul swelled with pride and delight at these honours.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., iii. I. 323. His stout English heart swelled with indignation at the thought.
1868. Freeman, 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.)
c. 1200. Vices & Virtues, 65. Scientia infiat, 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.
a. 1450. Knt. de la Tour, cx. There be mani women that haue thayre hertys suolle fulle of pride.
1594. Kyd, Cornelia, III. iii. 211. Caesar, swolne with honors heate, Sits signiorizing in her seate.
1597. Shaks., 2 Hen. IV., IV. v. 171. If it did … swell my Thoughts, to any straine of Pride.
1599. Marston, Antonio’s Rev., V. i. The States of Venice are so swolne in hate Against the Duke.
1649. Milton, Eikon., xi. 112. What other notions … could swell up Caligula to think himself a God?
c. 1685. Pomfret, Cruelty & Lust, 129. Swell’d with success, and blubber’d up with pride.
1741. Watts, Improv. Mind, I. iii. § 4. You value, exalt, and swell yourself as though you were a man of learning already.
1752. Hume, Ess. & Treat. (1777), I. 231. Their heart, swoln with the tenderest sympathy and compassion.
1830. Greville, Mem. (1874), II. 65. Intoxicated with his Yorkshire honours, swollen with his own importance.
1891. Hardy, Tess, xl. Inwardly swollen with a renewal of sentiments that he had not quite reckoned with.
9. 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).
a. 1250. Owl & Night., 7. Eyþer ayeyn oþer swal [v.r. sval], And let þat vuele mod vt al.
1526. Tindale, 1 Cor. iv. 6. That one swell nott agaynst another. Ibid., 18. Some swell as though I wolde come no more at you.
1553. T. Wilson, Rhet. (1580), 130. When we beare one saie, sutche a man swelled, seyng a thyng against his minde, we gather that he was then more then halfe angrie.
1583. Stubbes, Anat. Abus., II. (1882), 3. Herod and Nabuchadnezer swelling in sinne, and rising, vp against the maiestie of God.
1593. Nashe, 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.
1599. Marston, Antonio’s Rev., II. ii. 109. I will not swell, like a tragedian, In forced passion of affected strains.
1648. Milton, Ps. lxxxiii. 5. Thy furious foes now swell And storm outrageously.
a. 1704. T. 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.
1706. E. 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.
1712. Addison, 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.
1795. Wolcot (P. Pindar), Pindariana, Wks. 1812, IV. 183. Tis laughable to see a Frenchman swell.
1863. Tyneside Songs, 22. Two sots wi’ eyes a’ bleary, Doon Sangyet street did swell.
1884. Howells, 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.
