SWEAL

Etymology

Verb

sweal (third-person singular simple present sweals, present participle swealing, simple past and past participle swealed)

(intransitive) To burn slowly.

(intransitive) To melt and run down, as the tallow of a candle; waste away without feeding the flame.

(transitive) To singe; scorch; dress (as a hog) with burning or singeing.

(transitive, dialectal) To consume with fire; burn.

(transitive, dialectal) To make disappear; cause to waste away; diminish; reduce.

Anagrams

• Swale, Wales, alews, lawes, swale, wales, weals

Source: Wiktionary


Sweal, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Swealed; p. pr. & vb. n. Swealing.] Etym: [OE. swelen to burn, AS. swelan; akin to G. schwelen to burn slowly, schwül sultry, Icel. svæla a thick smoke.]

Definition: To melt and run down, as the tallow of a candle; to waste away without feeding the flame. [Written also swale.] Sir W. Scott.

Sweal, v. t.

Definition: To singe; to scorch; to swale; as, to sweal a pig by singeing off the hair.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



RESET




Word of the Day

22 February 2025

ANALYSIS

(noun) the use of closed-class words instead of inflections: e.g., ‘the father of the bride’ instead of ‘the bride’s father’


coffee icon

Coffee Trivia

Brazil is the largest coffee producer in the world. Each year Brazil exports more than 44 million bags of coffee. Vietnam follows at exporting over 27 million bags each year.

coffee icon