swallow
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈswɒl.əʊ/
note: of Canada
ipa: /ˈswɑ.loʊ/
note: of Canada
ipa: [ˈswɑ.loʊ̯]
rhymes: -ɒləʊ
Forms: form: swallows
form: swallowing
form: swallowed
form: swallowed
form: swalow
form: swolow
Etymology: From Middle English swolowen, swolwen, swolȝen, swelwen, swelȝen, from Old English swelgan, from Proto-West Germanic *swelgan, from Proto-Germanic *swelganą (“to swallow, revel, devour”), from Proto-Indo-European *swelk- (“to gulp”). Cognate with Dutch zwelgen (“to revel, carouse, guzzle”), German schwelgen (“to delight, indulge”), Swedish svälja (“to swallow, gulp”), Icelandic svelgja (“to swallow”), Old English swillan, swilian (“to swill, wash out, gargle”). See also swill.
The noun is from Middle English swelwe, swolwe, from Old English swelh, swelg (“gulf, chasm”) and ġeswelge (“gulf, chasm, abyss, whirlpool”), both from Proto-West Germanic *swelg, *swalgi, from Proto-Germanic *swelgaz, *swalgiz. Cognate with Old English swiliġe (“pit”), Scots swelch, swellie, swallie (“an abyss in the sea, whirpool”), Middle Low German swelch (“whirlpool, eddy”), Dutch zwelg (“gorge, chasm, gullet, throat”), Old Norse svelgr (“whirlpool, current, stream”).
Senses: examples: text: What the liquor was I do not know, but it was not so strong but that I could swallow it in great gulps and found it less burning than my burning throat.
ref: [1898], J[ohn] Meade Falkner, Moonfleet, London; Toronto, Ont.: Jonathan Cape, published 1934, →OCLC:
text: Clothes are to be worn and food is to be swallowed: they remain trapped in the physical world.
ref: 2011 April 21, Jonathan Jones, The Guardian:
text: The four-and-one-half-day trial was centered on acts that neither she nor prosecutors dispute: On July 13, 2012, she drove her Lexus S.U.V. erratically after swallowing Zolpidem, a generic form of the sleep medication Ambien.
ref: 2014 February 28, Joseph Berger, “Fast Acquittal for Kennedy, Whose Name Put Prosecutors in Bind”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 28 Aug 2022:
synonyms: consume
devour
eat
gulp
glosses: To cause (food, drink etc.) to pass from the mouth into the stomach; to take into the stomach through the throat.
examples: text: The necessary provision of the life swallows the greatest part of their time.
ref: a. 1705, John Locke, “Of the Conduct of the Understanding”, in Posthumous Works of Mr. John Locke: […], London: […] A[wnsham] and J[ohn] Churchill, […], published 1706, →OCLC:
text: His body, like so many others swallowed by the ocean's hungry maw, was never found.
ref: 2010 October 28, “What are the wild waves saying”, in The Economist:
text: Elsewhere still, they'd managed to find the wreck of a Japanese midget submarine, and so, when the battleships were done being swallowed by the seabed, some efforts were being made to haul this up as well.
ref: 2020 November 11, Drachinifel, 25:13 from the start, in The Salvage of Pearl Harbor Pt 1 - The Smoke Clears, archived from the original on 22 Oct 2022:
synonyms: word: absorb
word: engulf
word: incorporate
word: swallow up
word: absorb
word: add on
word: assimilate
word: co-opt
word: corporate
word: incorporate
word: incorpse
word: integrate
word: subsume
word: swallow
glosses: To take (something) in so that it disappears; to consume, absorb.
examples: text: My throat was so sore that I was unable to swallow.
text: She swallowed nervously then, appearing near sick with what she had to say.
ref: 1979, VC Andrews, Flowers in the Attic:
synonyms: gulp
glosses: To take food down into the stomach; to make the muscular contractions of the oesophagus to achieve this, often taken as a sign of nervousness or strong emotion.
examples: text: this humbug was readily swallowed by men who were supposed to be intelligent,
ref: 1920, Romain Rolland, translated by Katherine Miller, Clerambault:
text: Most newspapers we saw swallowed whole an S.R. estimate that it would cost £20m to equip the Region with point heaters.
ref: 1962 March, “Lessons of the Freeze-up”, in Modern Railways, page 146:
text: Be careful of the Commie Lies / swallow them and freedom dies / The USA must realize / that she's the biggest prize.
ref: 1965, “Commie Lies”, in Fascist Threat / Commie Lies, performed by Janet Greene:
text: Americans swallowed his tale because they wanted to.
ref: 2011 April 22, Madeleine Bunting, The Guardian:
synonyms: buy
credit
glosses: To accept easily or without questions; to believe, accept.
examples: text: Homer excels […] in this, that he swallowed up the honour of those who succeeded him.
ref: 1715–1720, Homer, translated by Alexander Pope, “Book preface”, in The Iliad of Homer, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintott […], →OCLC:
synonyms: absorb
monopolize
occupy
take over
glosses: To engross; to appropriate; usually with up.
examples: text: to swallow one's opinions
text: Left her in her tears, and dried not one of them with his comfort; swallowed his vows whole
ref: c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:
synonyms: word: disavow
word: take back
word: abjure
word: backpedal
word: disavow
word: disown
word: eat one's words
word: recall
word: recant
word: retract
word: revoke
word: swallow
word: take back
word: unsay
word: unspeak
word: walk back
word: withcall
word: withdraw
glosses: To retract; to recant.
examples: text: to swallow an affront or insult
synonyms: word: endure
word: live with
word: abear
word: abide
word: aby
word: accept
word: allow
word: bear
word: bide
word: brook
word: dree
word: endure
word: forbear
word: go along with
word: live with
word: pass
word: pocket
word: pouch
word: put up with
word: stand
word: stick
word: stomach
word: suffer
word: swallow
word: take
word: take sitting down
word: thole
word: tolerate
word: undergang
word: undergo
glosses: To put up with; to bear patiently or without retaliation.
Derived terms: sense: Terms derived from swallow (verb)
word: bitter pill to swallow
sense: Terms derived from swallow (verb)
word: difficult pill to swallow
sense: Terms derived from swallow (verb)
word: hard pill to swallow
sense: Terms derived from swallow (verb)
word: hard to swallow
sense: Terms derived from swallow (verb)
word: look like one swallowed a bug
sense: Terms derived from swallow (verb)
word: pill to swallow
sense: Terms derived from swallow (verb)
word: swallowable
sense: Terms derived from swallow (verb)
word: swallow down
sense: Terms derived from swallow (verb)
word: swallow one's pride
sense: Terms derived from swallow (verb)
word: swallow one's words
sense: Terms derived from swallow (verb)
word: swallow the anchor
sense: Terms derived from swallow (verb)
word: swallow the dictionary
sense: Terms derived from swallow (verb)
word: swallow the leek
sense: Terms derived from swallow (verb)
word: swallow up
sense: Terms derived from swallow (verb)
word: tough pill to swallow