maelstrom
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈmeɪlˌstɹəm/
ipa: /-stɹɒm/
ipa: /ˈmeɪlˌstɹɔm/
ipa: /-ˌstɹəm/
ipa: /-ˌztɹɔm/
ipa: /-ˌztɹəm/
ipa: /ˈmælˌstɹəm/
Forms: form: maelstroms
form: maelström
Etymology: The word was originally the name of a giant whirlpool off Norway in the Arctic Ocean which was said to destroy all ships that came close to it, likely the actual tidal pool system of Moskstraumen in Lofoten.
It is borrowed from early modern Dutch maelstrom (“whirlpool”) (obsolete) (modern Dutch maalstroom), from malen (“to whirl around; to grind”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *melh₂- (“to crush, grind”)) + stroom (“stream; river; current or flow of water or other liquid”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *srew- (“to flow, stream”)), and was popularized by Edgar Allen Poe’s short story A Descent into the Maelström (1841).
Cognates
* Danish malstrøm
* German Mahlstrom
* Swedish malström
Senses: examples: text: To his right fell a gleaming sheet of water, and below it was a maelstrom, that made one giddy by its terrific gyrations.
ref: 1905, James Edward Preston Muddock, “A Petrified Forest”, in The Sunless City […], London: F. V. White & Co., →OCLC:
text: The falukah plunged over a waterfall and was almost submerged, was caught again in a maelstrom and went twirling on in the blackness.
ref: 1914 November 14, Arthur Train, [Robert Williams Wood], “The Man Who Rocked the Earth”, in The Saturday Evening Post, volume 187, number 20, Philadelphia, Pa.; London: Curtis Publishing Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, chapter VI, page 65, column 2:
text: A hulking shape burst through the doorway and hurtled down the corridor, leaving a maelstrom of air currents in his wake.
ref: 2001 April 26, Eoin Colfer, “Troll”, in Artemis Fowl, New York, N.Y.; Toronto, Ont.: Scholastic, published September 2001, →ISBN, page 212:
glosses: A large and violent whirlpool.
examples: text: It was of Jean Paul's doing: some single billow in that vast World-Mahlstrom of Humour, with its heaven-kissing coruscations, which is now, alas, all congealed in the frost of death!
ref: 1831, Thomas Carlyle, “Characteristics”, in Sartor Resartus: The Life and Opinions of Herr Teufelsdröckh. […], London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, 1st book, page 22:
text: He escaped at last, dizzy from the maelstrom of conflicting emotions that had caught and whirled him.
ref: 1922, Harry Leon Wilson, “‘Five Reels—500 Laughs’”, in Merton of the Movies, Garden City, N.Y.; Toronto, Ont.: Doubleday, Page & Company, →OCLC, page 310:
text: The terminal station, Richmond, is managed by South West Trains, heirs to the London & South Western Railway, and here the District fades into a railway maelstrom, since Richmond is not only on the Waterloo-Reading line but is also the westerly terminus of the London Overground.
ref: 2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A Passenger’s History of the Tube, London: Profile Books, →ISBN, page 80:
text: Setting our sights back on King's Landing, where the Last War will be waged, makes a lot of sense, even if it does feel a bit anticlimactic after last week's deadly, blustery maelstrom.
ref: 2019 May 5, Danette Chavez, “Campaigns are Waged On and Off the Game Of Thrones Battlefield (Newbies)”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 28 Jan 2021:
text: Five, he has no idea what else could be out there. For example, if British doctrine was anything like his own, then even at this moment, dozens of British destroyers might be swarming towards him, about to envelop his forces in a maelstrom of torpedoes, and the first thing he'd know about it is when things start exploding! (Well, even more than they already are now.)
ref: 2020 August 5, Drachinifel, 19:53 from the start, in The Battle of Jutland - Clash of the Titans - Part 2 (Jellicoe vs Scheer), archived from the original on 12 Sep 2022:
synonyms: pandemonium
glosses: A chaotic or turbulent situation.
Synonyms: vortex
Derived terms: maelstromic