Obs. [ad. early mod.G. schwermer (mod. schwärmer), a favorite word of Luther’s, esp. for the Anabaptists, f. schwermen, schwärmen to swarm, rove, riot, rave (see SWARM sb.).] A sectarian, fanatic. Hence † Swermerian in the same sense.
1585–7. T. Rogers, 39 Art., xxiii. (1625), 137. The Anabaptisticall Swermers. Ibid. xxvii. 169. Some vtterly deny that Infants … are to be baptized; so … doe the Swermerians (a sect among the said Anabaptists).
