swallow

CEFRB1

/ˈswɒl.əʊ/

verb · noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    verb

    To make food or drink pass down the throat.

  2. 02

    noun

    A small bird with pointed wings and a forked tail.

Examples

  • The boy can't tell a swallow from a sparrow.

  • First, swallow one dose of barium.

At a glance

Sits at B1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
5
Synonyms
5

Also pronounced

  • /ˈswɑ.loʊ/

Deep Dive

verb

Extra meanings

  1. To take (something) in so that it disappears; to consume, absorb.

  2. To take food down into the stomach; to make the muscular contractions of the oesophagus to achieve this, often taken as a sign of nervousness or strong emotion.

  3. To cause (food, drink etc.) to pass from the mouth into the stomach; to take into the stomach through the throat.

More examples

In context

  • We just have to swallow it.

  • My throat was so sore that I was unable to swallow.

  • to swallow an affront or insult

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

After chewing the food slowly, she tried to blank the large, bitter pill but found it hard.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

verb

From Middle English swolwen, from Old English swelgan, from Proto-West Germanic *swelgan, from Proto-Germanic *swelganą (“to swallow, revel, devour”), from Proto-Indo-European *swelk- (“to gulp”). Cognate with Dutch zwelgen (“to revel, carouse, guzzle”), German schwelgen (“to delight, indulge”), Danish svælge (“to swallow”), Norwegian Bokmål svelge (“to swallow”), Norwegian Nynorsk svelgje (“to swallow”), Swedish svälja (“to swallow, gulp”), Faroese svølgja (“to swallow”), Icelandic svelgja (“to swallow”), Old English swillan, swilian (“to swill, wash out, gargle”). See also swill. The noun is from Middle English swolow, swolwe, from Old English swelh, swelg (“gulf, chasm”) and ġeswelge (“g...