swarm

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swarm

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From Middle English swarm, from Old English swearm (“swarm, multitude”), from Proto-West Germanic *swarm, from Proto-Germanic *swarmaz (“swarm, dizziness”), from Proto-Indo-European *swer- (“to buzz, hum”).

Cognate with Saterland Frisian Swoorm (“swarm”), Dutch zwerm, German Schwarm, Danish sværm, Swedish svärm, Icelandic svarmur (“tumult, swarm”), Latin susurrus (“whispering, humming”), Lithuanian surma (“a pipe”), Russian свире́ль (svirélʹ, “a pipe, reed”).

The verb is from Middle English swarmen, swermen, from Old English swirman (“to swarm”), from Proto-West Germanic *swarmijan, from Proto-Germanic *swarmijaną (“to swarm”), from the noun. Cognate with Scots swairm, swerm (“to swarm”), Dutch zwermen, German schwärmen, Danish sværme, Swedish svärma.

• (General American) IPA^(key): /swɔɹm/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /swɔːm/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)m

swarm (plural swarms)

1. A large number of insects, especially when in motion or (for bees) migrating to a new colony.
   • 1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, .”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: J M for John Starkey , →OCLC, page 10, lines 19–21:

     reſtleſs thoughts, that like a deadly ſwarm / Of Hornets arm'd ruſh upon me thronging,

2. A mass of people, animals or things in motion or turmoil.

   a swarm of meteorites

   • 1705, J Addison, Remarks on Several Parts of Italy, &c. in the Years 1701, 1702, 1703, London: Jacob Tonson, , →OCLC:

     those prodigious swarms that had settled themselves in every part of it

3. (computing) A group of nodes sharing the same torrent in a BitTorrent network.
4. (seismology) A number of small earthquakes (or other seismic events) occurring, with no clear cause, in a specific area within a relatively short space of time.
   • 2020, Daniel Yergin, The New Map, Penguin, published 2021, page 28:

     Earthquakes were another concern, particularly after swarms were felt in Oklahoma.

swarm (third-person singular simple present swarms, present participle swarming, simple past and past participle swarmed)

1. (intransitive) To move as a swarm.
   • 1915, G A. Birmingham , chapter I, in Gossamer, New York, N.Y.: George H. Doran Company, →OCLC:

     There is an hour or two, after the passengers have embarked, which is disquieting and fussy. Mail bags, so I understand, are being put on board. Stewards, carrying cabin trunks, swarm in the corridors.

2. (intransitive) To teem, or be overrun with insects, people, etc.
   • 1596 (date written; published 1633), Edmund Spenser, A Vewe of the Present State of Irelande ">…], Dublin: Societie of Stationers, ">…], →OCLC; republished as A View of the State of Ireland  (Ancient Irish Histories), Dublin: Society of Stationers, Hibernia Press, y John Morrison, 1809, →OCLC:

     Every place swarming with soldiers.

3. (transitive) To fill a place as a swarm.
   • 2024 November 13, Paul Bigland, “Much to admire... but pockets of neglect”, in RAIL, number 1022, page 48:

     All is well until Treorchy, where the platform is swamped by teenagers who have been attending an event. Around four dozen unescorted 12 to 16 year-olds swarm aboard and begin to run riot through the train. Their behaviour is appalling and the presence of CCTV no deterrent.

4. (transitive) To overwhelm as by an opposing army.
   • 2019 March 6, Drachinifel, 37:59 from the start, in The Battle of Samar (Alternate History) - Bring on the Battleships!‎, archived from the original on 20 July 2022:

     So, yeah. The overall conclusion of the big gunfight being that, if Yamato is able to tackle the Colorados early, then the Japanese probably have a, maybe a sixty-to-sixty-five-percent chance of pulling this off... although you say "pulling it off", it's more a case of "the Japanese are the last battleship standing"; they tend to then just get swarmed by angry Fletchers

5. To climb by gripping with arms and legs alternately.
   • 1784, William Coxe, Travels into Poland, Russia, Sweden and Denmark:

     At the top was placed a piece of money, as a prize for those who could swarm up and seize it.

   • 1919, W Somerset Maugham, “chapter 55”, in The Moon and Sixpence, : Grosset & Dunlap Publishers , →OCLC:

     She called out, and a boy came running along. He swarmed up a tree, and presently threw down a ripe nut. Ata pierced a hole in it, and the doctor took a long, refreshing draught.

6. To breed multitudes.
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. , London: ">…] , and are to be sold by Peter Parker ; nd by Robert Boulter ; nd Matthias Walker, , →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: , London: Basil Montagu Pickering , 1873, →OCLC, lines 526–527:

     Not ſo thick ſwarm'd once the Soil / Bedropt with blood of Gorgon,

• Appendix:English collective nouns

• warms

• swarme, swrame

Inherited from Old English swearm, from Proto-Germanic *swarmaz.

• IPA^(key): /swarm/

swarm (plural swarmes)

1. A swarm (large, moving group of bees)
2. (rare) A large group of people.

• swarmen

• English: swarm
• Scots: swairm

• “swarm, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 24 November 2018.