swelter
EnglishEdit
Alternative formsEdit
- sulter (obsolete)
EtymologyEdit
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). More at swelt.
PronunciationEdit
- (UK) IPA(key): /ˈswɛl.tə/
- (US) IPA(key): /ˈswɛl.tɚ/
Audio (US) (file) Audio (AU) (file) - Rhymes: -ɛltə(ɹ)
VerbEdit
swelter (third-person singular simple present swelters, present participle sweltering, simple past and past participle sweltered)
- (intransitive) To suffer terribly from intense heat.
- (intransitive) To perspire greatly from heat.
- (transitive) To cause to faint, to overpower, as with heat.
- 1796, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Fire, Famine, and Slaughter
- It was so rare a piece of fun
To see the swelter'd cattle run
- It was so rare a piece of fun
- 1796, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Fire, Famine, and Slaughter
TranslationsEdit
To suffer terribly from intense heat
NounEdit
swelter (plural swelters)
- Intense heat.
- The summer swelter did not relent until late in September, most years.
Derived termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
intense heat