swelter

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)

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• Audio (AU)

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• 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.
3. (transitive) To cause to faint, to overpower, as with heat.

Translations

To suffer terribly from intense heat

• Esperanto: sufoki
• Finnish: läkähtyä (fi)
• French: étouffer (fr)
• Japanese: 茹だる (udaru)

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

To perspire greatly from heat

• German: stark schwitzen (de)
• 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

• Catalan: xafogor (ca) f
• Finnish: helle (fi)
• German: Hitzewelle (de) f
• Latvian: svelme

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

Anagrams

• Lewters, Welters, welters, wrestle