Swell Meaning
/swɛl/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
verbTo become bigger, especially due to being engorged.
verbTo cause to become bigger.
Sentence Examples
The toothache made his face swell up.
In addition to a thick fog, there was a heavy swell.
CEFR Practice Quiz
After I stepped on a sharp rock, my ankle began to ____.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The injury caused his ankle to ____ up significantly, so he decided to put some ice on it today.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English swellen, from Old English swellan (“to swell”), from Proto-West Germanic *swellan, from Proto-Germanic *swellaną (“to swell”), of unknown origin. Cognate with Saterland Frisian swälle (“to swell”), West Frisian swolle (“to swell”), Dutch zwellen (“to swell”), Low German swellen (“to swell”), German schwellen (“to swell”), Swedish svälla (“to swell”), Icelandic svella. The adjective may derive from the noun.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"O for a Muse of fire, that would ascend
The brightest heaven of invention,
A kingdom for a stage, princes to act
And monarchs to behold the swelling scene!"
— 1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act PROLOGUE, (please specify the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals)]:
"“If you drinks a drop more, Miss Lucy, you’ll just go like my pore young sister goed, […] Pop she did not. She swole … swole and swole.”
“You mean ‘swelled,’ Cookoo,” corrected Lucille […]
“[…] I say she swole—and what is more she swole clean into a dropsy.”"
— 1914, P. C. Wren, chapter 5, in Snake and Sword, London: Longmans, Green, page 78:
"She had overheard her Mom and Mrs. Thomas from across the street talking about someone who was allergic to stings, and Mrs. Thomas had said, "Ten seconds after it gut im, poor ole Frank was swole up like a balloon. If he hadn't had his little kit with the hyperdermic^([sic]), I guess he woulda choked to death.""
— 1999 April 6, Stephen King, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Scribner, →ISBN; republished New York, N.Y.: Pocket Books, May 2017, →ISBN, pages 67–68:
"Mildly it [the wind] kist our sailes, and, fresh, and sweet,
As, to a stomack sterv’d, whose insides meete,
Meate comes, it came; and swole our sailes, when wee
So joyd, as Sara’ her swelling joy’d to see."
— 1633, John Donne, “The Storme”, in Poems, London: John Marriot, page 57:
"’Tis low ebb sure with his Accuser, when such Peccadillos as these are put in to swell the Charge."
— 1687, Francis Atterbury, An Answer to Some Considerations on the Spirit of Martin Luther and the Original of the Reformation, Oxford, page 12:
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CEFR Practice Quiz
After I stepped on a sharp rock, my ankle began to ____.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The injury caused his ankle to ____ up significantly, so he decided to put some ice on it today.