swell-fish 
puffing-fish, porcupine-fish, rabbit-fish, tambor, 
puffer, etc. Numerous species are found in the seas of 
most parts of the world. Also swell-toad. See also cuts 
under balloon-fish, Diodon, and Te-troduntidi?. 
swelling (swel'ing), H. [< ME. swellings, swell- 
i/ni/c; verbal n. of swell, t'.] 1. A tumor, or 
any morbid enlargement : as, a swelling on the 
hand or leg. 
I saw men and women have exceeding great bunches or 
swellings in their tliroates. Cori/al, Crudities, I. 87. 
Sometimes they are troubled with dropsies, swelliiiys, 
aches, and such like diseases. 
Capt. John Smith, Works, I. 137. 
2. A protuberance; a prominence. 
The superficies of such [thin] plates are not even, but 
have many cavities and surettinyt. Newton, Opticks, ii. 2. 
3. A rising or inflation, as by passion or other 
powerful emotion: as, the swellings of anger, 
grief, or pride. 
Ther is inobedience, avauntyng, ypocrisye, despit, ar- 
ragaunce, impudence, swellyng of hert, insolence, elacioun, 
impatience, and many another twigge that I can not tell 
ne declare. . . . Swellyng of hcrt is whan a man rejoysith 
him of harm that he hath don. Chaucer, Parson's Tale. 
Down all the swellings of my troubled heart. 
Beau, and Fl. , Maid's Tragedy, ii. 1. 
4. The state of being puffed up; arrogance; 
pride. 
I fear lest . . . there be debates, envyings, wraths, 
strifes, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults. 
2 Cor. xii. 20. 
5. An overflow ; an inundation. 
Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the sieelling of 
Jordan. Jer. xlix. 19. 
Blue swelling, in fish-culture, same as dropsy, 3. Cloudy 
swelling. See cloudy. Glassy swelling, Weber's name 
for amyloid infiltration.- Lactiferous swelling, lacteal 
swelling, distention of the breast with milk, caused by 
obstruction of one or more lactiferous ducts. White 
swelling, milk- leg; phlegmasia alba dolens. See phleg- 
masia. 
Swelling (swel'ing), p. a. Grand; pompous; in- 
flated ; Dombastic : as, swelling words. 
Tis not unknown to you, Antonio, 
How much I have disabled mine estate 
By something showing a more stcelling port 
Than my faint means would grant continuance. 
Shak., M. of V., i. 1. 124. 
Let him follow the example of Peter and John, that 
without any ambitious swelling termes cured a lame man. 
Burton, Anat. of Mel., p. 722. 
swellish (swel'ish), . [< swell + -*/ii.] Per- 
taining to or characteristic of a swell or dandy ; 
foppish; dandified; stylish. [Colloq.] Imp. 
Diet. 
swell-keyboard (swerke"bord), n. The key- 
board of the swell-organ. It is usually placed 
next above that of the great organ. 
swell-mob (swel'mob'), n. A class of pick- 
pockets who go about genteelly dressed in order 
to mix in crowds, etc., with less suspicion or 
chance of recognition. [Slang.] 
Some of the Swell Mob, on the occasion of this Derby, 
... so far kiddied us as to . . . come into Epsom from 
the opposite direction ; and go to work, right and left, on 
the course, while we were waiting for 'em at the Rail. 
Dickens, Three Detective Anecdotes, ii. 
SWell-mobsman (swel'mobz'man), n. A mem- 
ber of the swell-mob; a genteelly clad pick- 
pocket. Sometimes molisinan. [Slang.] 
Others who went for play-actors, and a many who got 
on to be mcell-mobsmen, and thieves, and housebreakers, 
and the like o' that ere. 
Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, II. 417. 
swell-organ (swel'6r''gan), n. In organ-build- 
ing, one of the partial organs, next in impor- 
tance to the great organ . It is so named because its 
pipes are inclosed in a swell-box, so that the loudness of 
their tone can be varied at will. The stops of this organ 
are usually among the most delicate and individual In 
the whole instrument, since the finer gradations of tone 
especially in solo effects, are produced by them. 
swell-pedal (swel'ped'al), n. In organ-build- 
ing, a pedal whereby the opening and shutting 
of the swell-blinds are controlled. It usually em- 
bodies the principle of a ratchet, which holds the blinds 
at one of two or three degrees of openness, or that of a 
balanced lever operated by the toe or heel of the player's 
foot. Other devices for controlling the blinds have also 
been tried. 
swell-rule (swel'rol), . In printing, a dash 
swelling- usually into a diamond form in the 
center, and tapering toward the ends. See 
dash, 7 (6). 
swell-shark (swel'shark), n. A small shark, 
Scyllium rentricoswn. 
swell-toad (swel'tod), n. Same as swell-fish. 
swelly (swel'i), H. In coal-mining, a thickening 
or swelling out of a coal-seam over a limited 
area. Also called swally and swilley. [North. 
Eng.] 
sweltt (swelt). An obsolete preterit and past 
participle of swell. 
6110 
sweltt (swelt), r. [< ME. Hire/ten (pret. sirittt, 
pi. swulten, also weak pret. swclte),<. AS. sweltan 
(pret. swealt, pi. mention, pp. swollen), die, faint, 
consume with heat, = OS. sweltan = MD. swelten 
= OHG. sicctzaii, MHG. sicel~en = Icel. svelta, 
die, starve, also put to death, = Sw. si-alta = 
Dan. suite = Goth. Sicilian, die. Hence the freq . 
swelter, whence sweltry, sultry, etc. The sense 
'faint with heat' is prob. due in part to the in- 
fluenceof sieeafl, swale 1 .] I. iittrans. 1. To be- 
come faint; faint; die. 
Almost he steelte and swowned ther he stood. 
Chaucer, Merchant's Tale, 1. 532. 
Nigh she fnvelt 
For passing joy, which did ail into pitty melt. 
Spenser, F. Q., VI. xii. 21. 
2. To faint with heat ; swelter. 
No wonder is thogh that I swelte and swete. 
Chaucer, Miller's Tale, L 517. 
He that . . . 
Seeks in the Mines the baits of Auarice, 
Or, smiting at the Furnace, flneth bright 
Our soules dire sulphur. 
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, i. 1. 
F.uer thirstie, and ready to swell for drinke. 
Nashe, Pierce Penilesse, p. 65. 
II. trans. 1. To cause to die; kill; destroy. 
2. To cause to faint; overpower, as with 
heat; swelter. 
Is the sun to be blamed that the traveller's cloak sweltj! 
him with heat? Bp. Hall, Soliloquies, Ixxiv. 
swelter (swel'ter), v. [< ME. "swelteren, swel- 
tren, swalteren, freq. of swelten, die, faint: see 
swelt.] I. intrans. 1. To faint with heat; be 
ready to perish with heat. 
I behold the darken'd sun bereav'n 
Of all his light, the battlements of Heav'n 
Swelt'ring in flames. Quarles, Emblems, iii. 14. 
If the Suns excessive heat 
il ake our bodies swelter, 
To an Osier hedge we get 
For a friendly shelter. 
Song, in Walton's Complete Angler, xi. 
2. To perspire freely ; sweat. 
They bathe their coursers' sweltering sides. 
Scott, L. of the L., v. 18. 
II. trans. 1. To oppress with heat. 
One climate would be scorched and sweltered with ever- 
lasting dog-days. Bentley. 
2f. To cause to exude like sweat, by or as if by 
heat. 
Toad, that under cold stone 
Days and nights hast thirty-one 
Sweltfr'd venom sleeping got. 
Shale., Macbeth, iv. 1. 8. 
[Sweltered miom is also explained as venom moistened 
with the animal's sweat.] 
3f. To soak; steep. 
And all the knights there dubbed the morning but before, 
The evening sun beheld there sweltered in their gore. 
Drayton, Polyolbion. 
sweltering (swel'ter-ing), p. a. \. Sweltry; 
sultry ; suffocating with heat. 
Hark how the direful hand of vengeance tears 
The swelt'ring clouds. Quarles, Emblems, ii. 9. 
We journeyed on in a most sweltering atmosphere. 
B. Taylor, Lands of the Saracen, p. 109. 
2. Ready to perish with heat; faint with heat. 
Swalteryn for hete, or febylnesse, or other cawsys, or 
swownyn. Exalo, Bincopizo. Prompt. Pars., p. 481. 
sweltht, . [Appar. < swell + -Ml.] Swelling ; 
bubbling (?). 
A deadly gulfe where nought but rubbish growes, 
With f owle blacke smith, in thickned lumpes that lies. 
Sackvttle, Ind. to Mir. for Mags., st. 31. 
sweltry (swel'tri), a. [For "sweltery, < swel- 
ter + -yl. Hence, by contraction, the present 
form sultry, q. v.] If. Suffocating with heat ; 
sweltering; oppressive with heat; sultry. E. 
Phillips. 2. Oppressed with heat ; sweltering. 
Along the rough-hewn Bench 
The sweltry man had stretch'd him. 
Coleridge, Destiny ol Nations. 
swelwet, v. A Middle English variant of swal- 
toir 1 . 
swepet, v. and n. An old spelling of sweep. 
swept (swept). Preterit and past participle of 
sweep. 
SWerdt, . A Middle English form of sward. 
Swertia (swer'ti-a), n. [NL. (Linnieus, 1737), 
named after Emanuel Steeert (Swert, Sweerts), 
an herbalist, who published a " Florilegium " 
in 1612.] A genus of gamopetalous plants, of 
the order Gentianacese and tribe Swertiese. it is 
characterized by a wheel-shaped corolla with five or more 
nectaries and four or five dextrorsely twisted lobes, a very 
short style, and a two-valved capsule with its sutures not 
intruded. There are about 55 species, natives of Europe, 
Africa, and Asia, especially of mountain regions. They are 
erect herbs, with or without branches ; the annual species 
bear opposite, the perennial radical leaves; their flowers 
are blue or rarely yellow, borne in a crowded or loose pan- 
swevening 
icle. S. perennis of Europe and northeastern Asia occurs 
also in the Kocky Mountains from Colorado and t'tah to 
Alaska ; the Tatars apply its leaves to wounds, and the 
Russians use an infusion of them as a medicinal drink. 
Many medicinal Indian species known as ehiretta have 
been stunt-times separated as a genus, Opltelia. See ehi- 
retta and bitter-stem. 
Swertieae (Bw&r-tTf-S). n. pi. [NL. (Alphonse 
de Candolle, 1845), < Swertia + -e.~\ A tribe 
of gamopetalous plants, of the order Gentitiini- 
CC&, It is characterized by a one-celled ovary with ovules 
covering the whole inner surface more or less completely, 
or confined to a double row at the sutures, and by a usu- 
ally short or obscure style ending in a stigma which com- 
monly divides into two lobes crowning the valves of the 
capsule. It includes 9 genera, of which Swertia is the 
type, chiefly herbs of north temperate regions. The other 
North American genera are Gentiana, Frasera, Halenia, 
Obolaria, and Bartonia. See cuts under gentian and Obo- 
laria. 
Swerve (swerv), .; pret. and pp. swerved, ppr. 
swerving. [< ME. swerren, swarven, turn aside, 
etc., < AS. gweorfan (pret. swearf, pp. sioorfen), 
rub, file, polish, = OS. swerban, wipe, = OFries. 
swcrra, creep, = MD. swenen, D. zwenen = 
LG. swan-en, swerve, wander, riot,= OHG. swer- 
ban, MHG. swerben = Icel. sverfa, file, = Goth. 
"sirnirban, in comp. bitneairban , wipe ; cf. Dan. 
si-arbe = Sw. svarfva, turn in a lathe (< LG. ?). 
The development of senses appears to have 
been ' rub, wipe, polish, file, move to and fro, 
turn, turn aside, wander'; but two orig. diff. 
words may be concerned. Skeat assumes a 
connection with Dan. dial, svirre, move to and 
fro, swerve, turn aside, Dan. si'irre, whirl round, 
si-ire, revel, = Sw. srirra, murmur, hum. Cf. 
swarrc.~] I. intrans. 1. To turn aside suddenly 
or quickly ; turn suddenly aside from the di- 
rect course or aim : used of both physical and 
moral action. 
And, but the swerde hadde swarved, he hadde ben deed 
for euer-more. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), ii. 137. 
Rend not thy meate asunder, 
For that swarues from curtesy. 
Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 77. 
From this dignified attitude . . . she never swerved for 
a moment during the course of her long reign. 
Prescott, Ferd. and Isa., i. 16. 
Wheresoe'er my feet have swerved, 
His chastening turned me back. 
WJMtier, My Psalm. 
2. To wander ; rove ; stray ; roam ; ramble. 
[Obsolete or rare.] 
A maid thitherward did run, 
To catch her sparrow, which from her did swerve. 
Sir P. Sidney. 
3f. To climb or move upward by winding or 
turning. 
(The tree was high) 
Yet nimbly up from bough to bough I swerv'd. 
Dryden, tr. of Theocritus's Idyls, iii. 
Then up [the] mast tree swarved he. 
Sir Andrew Barton (Child's Ballads, VII. 207). 
II. trans. To turn aside ; cause to change in 
course. 
Those Scotish motions and pretentions . . . swerved 
them . . . from the former good constitution of the 
Church of England. 
Bp. Gauden, Tears of the Church, p. 460. (Danes.) 
To that high mind, by sorrow sicerved, 
Gave sympathy his woes deserved. 
Scott, Eokeby, iv. 29. 
swerve (swerv), n. [< swerve, v.~\ A turning 
aside. 
Presently there came along a wagon laden with timber ; 
the horses were straining their grand muscles, and the 
driver, having cracked his whip, ran along anxiously to 
guide the leader's head, fearing a swerve. 
George Eliot, Daniel Deronda, viii. 
All this star-poised frame, 
One swerve allowed, were with convulsion rackt. 
Lou-ell, The Brakes. 
swett (swet). An old spelling of the noun sweat, 
and of the preterit and past participle of the 
verb sweat. [Bare.] 
swete 1 !, v. i. A Middle English variant of sweat. 
SWete 2 t, <* and v. An old spelling of sweet. 
swevent, n. [< ME. sweren, swevene, swefn, < 
AS. swefen, sleep, dream, = OS. stceblian = Icel. 
svefn = Sw. somn = Dan. sovn = L. sonnnix 
('sopnus), sleep, = Gr. virvof = Lith. sapnas = 
Skt. svapna, sleep, < \/ svap, sleep. Cf. Sonnnix, 
somnolent, etc., sopor, soporific, etc., hypnotic, 
etc.] A dream. 
And as I lay and lened and loked in the wateres, 
I slombred in a slepyng it sweyued so merye. 
Thanne gan I to meten a merueilouse sii-eitene. 
Piers Plou-man(V), Pro]., 1. 11. 
Smvenes engendren of replecciouns. 
And ofte of fume and of complecciouns. 
Whan humours ben to abundant in a wight. 
Chaucer, Nun's Priest's Tale, 1. 103. 
sweveningt, . [ME. ; as if verbal n. of streven.'} 
A dream. 
