swelter

Contents

English

WOTD – 1 September 2010

Etymology

From Middle English sweltren, swaltren, 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.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈswɛl.tə/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈswɛl.tɚ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛltə(r)

Verb

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

1. (intransitive) To suffer terribly from intense heat.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Samuel Taylor Coleridge to this entry?)

2. (intransitive) To perspire greatly from heat.

Translations

To suffer terribly from intense heat

• Finnish: läkähtyä (fi)

• Russian: изнемогать (ru) (iznemogatʹ) от (ru) (ot) зноя (ru) m (znoja), (informal) жариться (ru) (žaritʹsja)

To perspire greatly from heat

• Portuguese: suar (pt) em bicas

Noun

swelter (plural swelters)

1. Intense heat.

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

Translations

intense heat

• Finnish: helle (fi)
• Latvian: svelme

• Russian: жара́ (ru) f (žará), зной (ru) m (znoj)
• Spanish: bochorno (es), flama (es)

Anagrams

• Lewters, Welters, welters, wrestle