SWELL

bully, bang-up, corking, cracking, dandy, great, groovy, keen, neat, nifty, not bad, peachy, slap-up, swell, smashing, old

(adjective) very good; “he did a bully job”; “a neat sports car”; “had a great time at the party”; “you look simply smashing”; “we had a grand old time”

swell

(noun) a crescendo followed by a decrescendo

swell, crestless wave

(noun) the undulating movement of the surface of the open sea

swell

(noun) a rounded elevation (especially one on an ocean floor)

dandy, dude, fop, gallant, sheik, beau, swell, fashion plate, clotheshorse

(noun) a man who is much concerned with his dress and appearance

swell, swell up, intumesce, tumefy, tumesce

(verb) expand abnormally; “The bellies of the starving children are swelling”

swell

(verb) cause to become swollen; “The water swells the wood”

swell

(verb) increase in size, magnitude, number, or intensity; “The music swelled to a crescendo”

well, swell

(verb) come up, as of a liquid; “Tears well in her eyes”; “the currents well up”

swell, puff up

(verb) become filled with pride, arrogance, or anger; “The mother was swelling with importance when she spoke of her son”

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology 1

Verb

swell (third-person singular simple present swells, present participle swelling, simple past swole or swoll or swelled, past participle swelled or swollen)

(intransitive) To become bigger, especially due to being engorged.

(transitive) To cause to become bigger.

(intransitive) To grow gradually in force or loudness.

(transitive) To raise to arrogance; to puff up; to inflate.

(intransitive) To be raised to arrogance.

To be elated; to rise arrogantly.

To be turgid, bombastic, or extravagant.

To protuberate; to bulge out.

Etymology 2

Noun

swell (countable and uncountable, plural swells)

The act of swelling; increase in size.

A bulge or protuberance.

Increase of power in style, or of rhetorical force.

A long series of ocean waves, generally produced by wind, and lasting after the wind has ceased.

(music) A gradual crescendo followed by diminuendo.

(music) A device for controlling the volume of a pipe organ.

(music) A division in a pipe organ, usually the largest enclosed division.

A hillock or similar raised area of terrain.

(geology) An upward protrusion of strata from whose central region the beds dip quaquaversally at a low angle.

(informal, dated) A person who dresses in a fancy or elegant manner.

(informal) A person of high social standing; an important person.

The front brow of a saddle bow, connected in the tree by the two saddle bars to the cantle on the other end.

Synonyms: pommel, fork

Synonyms

• (person dressed in a fancy or elegant manner): dandy, dude, toff

• (person of high social standing): toff

Etymology 3

From the noun "swell" (a person dressed in an elegant manner).

Adjective

swell (not generally comparable, comparative sweller, superlative swellest)

(dated) Fashionable, like a swell or dandy.

(North America, informal, dated) Excellent.

Adverb

swell (not comparable)

(North America, informal) Very well.

Anagrams

• Wells, wells

Source: Wiktionary


Swell, v. i. [imp. Swelled; p. p. Swelled or Swollen (; p. pr. & vb. n. Swelling.] Etym: [AS. swellan; akin to D. zwellen, OS. & OHG. swellan, G. schwellen, Icel. svella, Sw. svälla.]

1. To grow larger; to dilate or extend the exterior surface or dimensions, by matter added within, or by expansion of the inclosed substance; as, the legs swell in dropsy; a bruised part swells; a bladder swells by inflation.

2. To increase in size or extent by any addition; to increase in volume or force; as, a river swells, and overflows its banks; sounds swell or diminish.

3. To rise or be driven into waves or billows; to heave; as, in tempest, the ocean swells into waves.

4. To be puffed up or bloated; as, to swell with pride. You swell at the tartan, as the bull is said to do at scarlet. Sir W. Scott.

5. To be inflated; to belly; as, the sails swell.

6. To be turgid, bombastic, or extravagant; as, swelling words; a swelling style.

7. To protuberate; to bulge out; as, a cask swells in the middle.

8. To be elated; to rise arrogantly. Your equal mind yet swells not into state. Dryden.

9. To grow upon the view; to become larger; to expand. "Monarchs to behold the swelling scene!" Shak.

10. To become larger in amount; as, many little debts added, swell to a great amount.

11. To act in a pompous, ostentatious, or arrogant manner; to strut; to look big. Here he comes, swelling like a turkey cock. Shak.

Swell, v. t.

1. To increase the size, bulk, or dimensions of; to cause to rise, dilate, or increase; as, rains and dissolving snow swell the rivers in spring; immigration swells the population. [The Church] swells her high, heart-cheering tone. Keble.

2. To aggravate; to heighten. It is low ebb with his accuser when such peccadilloes are put to swell the charge. Atterbury.

3. To raise to arrogance; to puff up; to inflate; as, to be swelled with pride or haughtiness.

4. (Mus.)

Definition: To augment gradually in force or loudness, as the sound of a note.

Swell, n.

1. The act of swelling.

2. Gradual increase. Specifically: (a) Increase or augmentation in bulk; protuberance. (b) Increase in height; elevation; rise. Little River affords navigation during a swell to within three miles of the Miami. Jefferson.

(c) Increase of force, intensity, or volume of sound. Music arose with its voluptuous swell. Byron.

(d) Increase of power in style, or of rhetorical force. The swell and subsidence of his periods. Landor.

3. A gradual ascent, or rounded elevation, of land; as, an extensive plain abounding with little swells.

4. A wave, or billow; especially, a succession of large waves; the roll of the sea after a storm; as, a heavy swell sets into the harbor. The swell Of the long waves that roll in yonder bay. Tennyson. The gigantic swells and billows of the snow. Hawthorne.

5. (Mus.)

Definition: A gradual increase and decrease of the volume of sound; the crescendo and diminuendo combined; -- generally indicated by the sign.

6. A showy, dashing person; a dandy. [Slang] Ground swell. See under Ground.

– Organ swell (Mus.), a certain number of pipes inclosed in a box, the uncovering of which by means of a pedal produces increased sound.

– Swell shark (Zoöl.), a small shark (Scyllium ventricosum) of the west coast of North America, which takes in air when caught, and swells up like a swellfish.

Swell, a.

Definition: Having the characteristics of a person of rank and importance; showy; dandified; distinguished; as, a swell person; a swell neighborhood. [Slang] Swell mob. See under Mob. [Slang]

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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