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maalstroom. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
maalstroom, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
maalstroom in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
maalstroom you have here. The definition of the word
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Dutch
Etymology
Compound of malen + stroom. First attested in the 16th century.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈmaːl.stroːm/
- Hyphenation: maal‧stroom
Noun
maalstroom m (plural maalstromen, diminutive maalstroompje n)
- an aquatic vortex, maelstrom, large whirlpool; especially a tidal vortex
- 1769, Charles Papillon, Algemeen en beredenerent woordenboek der natuurlyke historie, tr. by Valmont de Bomare from French, publ. by Abraham Blussé & son, page 846.
De grootſte maalſtroom die men kent, is die van de Noorweegſche Zee, men verzekert dat hy meer als twintig uuren in omtrek beſlaat; hy zwelgt gedurende zes uuren alles in wat hy in zynen omtrek ontmoet, Water, Walviſſchen en Schepen, en hy geeft vervolgens, gedurende dezelve uitgeſtrektheid van tyd alles weder uit, wat hy ingezwolgen heeft.- The largest maelstrom, that is known, is the one of the Norwegian Sea, one insists that it covers more than twenty hours in circumference; it swallows during six hours everything in that it encounters in its circumference, water, whales and schips, and it subsequently reemits everything again during that same expanse of time, what it has swallowed in.
- (also figurative) any kind of vortex
- Novalis (Georg Philipp Friedrich Freiherr von Hardenberg), "Wat zou ik zonder U geweest zijn", tr. by Jan Wit from German, couplet 2.
Ik werd verteerd door wild verlangen, / door 's levens maalstroom weggevaagd.- I was being devoured by savage longing, / swept away by the maelstrom of life.