swelter

EnglishEdit

WOTD – 1 September 2010

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