overwhelm, overpower, sweep over, whelm, overcome, overtake
(verb) overcome, as with emotions or perceptual stimuli
Source: WordNet® 3.1
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.
Today, the verb overwhelm is much more common than whelm.
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
28 May 2025
(noun) a distinctive but intangible quality surrounding a person or thing; “an air of mystery”; “the house had a neglected air”; “an atmosphere of defeat pervaded the candidate’s headquarters”; “the place had an aura of romance”
Contrary to popular belief, coffee beans are not technically beans. They are referred to as such because of their resemblance to legumes. A coffee bean is a seed of the Coffea plant and the source for coffee. It is the pit inside the red or purple fruit, often referred to as a cherry. Just like ordinary cherries, the coffee fruit is also a so-called stone fruit.
