swelter

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English

WOTD – 1 September 2010

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Middle English swelteren, frequentative form of Middle English swelten (“to die; faint”), from Old English sweltan (“to die”), from Proto-West Germanic *sweltan, from Proto-Germanic *sweltaną (“to die”), from Proto-Indo-European *swel- (“to smolder; burn”), equivalent to swelt +‎ -er (frequentative suffix).

Pronunciation

Verb

swelter (third-person singular simple present swelters, present participle sweltering, simple past and past participle sweltered)

  1. (intransitive) To suffer terribly from intense heat.
    Synonyms: burn up, steam, stew
  2. (intransitive) To perspire greatly from heat.
    Synonyms: sweat buckets, sweat like a pig
  3. (transitive) To cause to faint, to overpower, as with heat.
    Synonyms: sweb, swelt
    • 1796, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Fire, Famine, and Slaughter:
      It was so rare a piece of fun
      To see the swelter'd cattle run

Translations

Noun

swelter (plural swelters)

  1. Intense heat.
    The summer swelter did not relent until late in September, most years.

Derived terms

Translations

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