WHELM

overwhelm, overpower, sweep over, whelm, overcome, overtake

(verb) overcome, as with emotions or perceptual stimuli

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Verb

whelm (third-person singular simple present whelms, present participle whelming, simple past and past participle whelmed)

(transitive) To bury, to cover; to engulf, to submerge.

Synonyms: overwhelm, whemmel (Britain dialectal, Scotland)

Antonym: unwhelm

(transitive, obsolete) To throw (something) over a thing so as to cover it.

Synonym: whemmel (Britain dialectal, Scotland)

(transitive, obsolete) To ruin or destroy.

(intransitive) To overcome with emotion; to overwhelm.

Usage notes

Today, the verb overwhelm is much more common than whelm.

Noun

whelm (plural whelms)

(poetic, also, figuratively) A surge of water.

Source: Wiktionary

Whelm, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Whelmed; p. pr. & vb. n. Whelming.] Etym: [OE. whelmen to turn over, akin to OE. whelven, AS. whelfan, hwylfan, in , , to overwhelm, cover over; akin to OS. bihwelbian, D. welven to arch, G. wölben, OHG. welben, Icel. hvelfa to overturn; cf. Gr.

1. To cover with water or other fluid; to cover by immersion in something that envelops on all sides; to overwhelm; to ingulf. She is my prize, or ocean whelm them all! Shak. The whelming billow and the faithless oar. Gay.

2. Fig.: To cover completely, as if with water; to immerse; to overcome; as, to whelm one in sorrows. "The whelming weight of crime." J. H. Newman.

3. To throw (something) over a thing so as to cover it. [Obs.] Mortimer.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition