Link Centre Dictionary

swallow

swal·low

UK/ˈswɒl.əʊ/ US/ˈswɒl.ə/ common slang
verb (8) noun (3)

verb

1.

pass through the esophagus as part of eating or drinking

  • “Swallow the raw fish--it won”
Synonyms
2.

engulf and destroy

  • “The Nazis swallowed the Baltic countries”
3.

enclose or envelop completely, as if by swallowing

  • “The huge waves swallowed the small boat and it sank shortly thereafter”
Synonyms
4.

utter indistinctly

  • “She swallowed the last words of her speech”
5.

take back what one has said

  • “He swallowed his words”
Synonyms
6.

keep from expressing

  • “I swallowed my anger and kept quiet”
7.

tolerate or accommodate oneself to

  • “I shall have to accept these unpleasant working conditions”
  • “I swallowed the insult”
  • “She has learned to live with her husband”
Synonyms
8.

believe or accept without questioning or challenge

  • “Am I supposed to swallow that story?”

noun

1.

a small amount of liquid food

  • “a sup of ale”
Synonyms
2.

the act of swallowing

  • “one swallow of the liquid was enough”
  • “he took a drink of his beer and smacked his lips”
Synonyms
3.

small long-winged songbird noted for swift graceful flight and the regularity of its migrations

Origin

From Middle English swolwen, 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”), Danish svælge (“to swallow”), Norwegian Bokmål svelge (“to swallow”), Norwegian Nynorsk svelgje (“to swallow”), Swedish svälja (“to swallow, gulp”), Faroese svølgja (“to swallow”), Icelandic svelgja (“to swallow”), Old English swillan, swilian (“to swill, wash out, gargle”). See also swill. The noun is from Middle English swolow, 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”).

Phrases

  • swallow hole

Related words

Word family

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.