Wallow Meaning
/ˈwɒ.ləʊ/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
verbTo roll oneself about in something dirty, for example in mud.
verbTo move lazily or heavily in any medium.
Sentence Examples
A pig will wallow in the mud in order to cool down.
Don't just lean back and wallow in your misery.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The very happy pigs always love to ____ in the mud after a heavy rainstorm.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The pigs like to ____ in the cool mud on hot summer afternoons to keep themselves comfortable in the sun today.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English walowen, walewen, walwen, welwen, from Old English wealwian (“to roll”), from Proto-West Germanic *walwōn, variant of *walwijan, from Proto-Germanic *walwijaną (“to roll”), from Proto-Indo-European *welw-, from Proto-Indo-European *welH- (“to turn, wind, roll”). Cognate with Latin volvō (“roll, tumble”, verb).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"O be thou my Charon, / And giue me ſwift tranſportance to theſe fieldes, / VVhere I may wallow in the lilly beds, / Propoſ'd for the deſeruer."
— c. 1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Famous Historie of Troylus and Cresseid. […] (First Quarto), London: […] G[eorge] Eld for R[ichard] Bonian and H[enry] Walley, […], published 1609, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:
"Make ye him drunken: for hee magnified himselfe against the Lord: Moab also shall wallow in his vomit, and he also shalbe in derision."
— 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Jeremiah 48:26:
"When Manſoul trampled upon things Divine, / And wallowed in filth as doth a ſwine:"
— 1682, John Bunyan, “To the Reader”, in The Holy War, Made by Shaddai upon Diabolus, for the Regaining of the Metropolis of the World. […], London: […] Dorman Newman […]; and Benjamin Alsop […], →OCLC:
"The fire was thrown to a great height; the fountains and jets all wallowed together; new ones appeared, and danced joyously round the margin, then converging towards the centre they merged into one glowing mass, which upheaved itself pyramidally and disappeared with a vast plunge."
— 1875, Isabella L. Bird, The Hawaiian Archipelago:
"“A Hot Steam’s somebody who can’t get to heaven, just wallows around on lonesome roads an‘ if you walk through him, when you die you’ll be one too, an’ you’ll go around at night suckin‘ people’s breath-”"
— 1960 July 11, Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird, Philadelphia, Pa.; New York, N.Y.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott Company, →OCLC:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The very happy pigs always love to ____ in the mud after a heavy rainstorm.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The pigs like to ____ in the cool mud on hot summer afternoons to keep themselves comfortable in the sun today.