Wiktionary

swelter

EnglishEdit

WOTD – 1 September 2010

Alternative formsEdit

EtymologyEdit

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

PronunciationEdit

VerbEdit

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

  1. (intransitive) To suffer terribly from intense heat.
  2. (intransitive) To perspire greatly from heat.
  3. (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

TranslationsEdit

NounEdit

swelter (plural swelters)

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

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