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sweal. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
sweal, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
sweal in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
sweal you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Etymology
From Middle English swelen, from Old English swelan (“to burn, be burnt up, inflame”) (compare Old English swǣlan (“to burn”)), from Proto-West Germanic *swelan, from Proto-Germanic *swelaną (“to smoulder, burn slowly, create a burningly cold sensation”), from Proto-Indo-European *swel- (“to shine, warm, smoulder, burn”). Cognate with Dutch zwelen (“to smoulder”), Low German swelen (“to smoulder”), German schwelen (“to smoulder”), Icelandic svala (“to cool”). Related to swelter.
Pronunciation
Verb
sweal (third-person singular simple present sweals, present participle swealing, simple past and past participle swealed)
- (intransitive) To burn slowly.
- (intransitive) To melt and run down, as the tallow of a candle; waste away without feeding the flame.
1816, Jedadiah Cleishbotham , chapter V, in Tales of My Landlord, In Four Volumes.">…], volume II (Old Mortality), Edinburgh: ">…] for William Blackwood, ; London: John Murray, , →OCLC, page 104:ind ye dinna let the candle sweal as ye gang alang the wainscot parlour, and haud a' the house scouring to get out the grease again.
- (transitive) To singe; scorch; dress (as a hog) with burning or singeing.
- (transitive, dialectal) To consume with fire; burn.
- (transitive, dialectal) To make disappear; cause to waste away; diminish; reduce.
Anagrams