swallow
Meanings
- To cause (food, drink etc.) to pass from the mouth into the stomach; to take into the stomach through the throat.
- To take (something) in so that it disappears; to consume, absorb.
- To take food down into the stomach; to make the muscular contractions of the oesophagus to achieve this, often taken as a sign of nervousness or strong emotion.
- To accept easily or without questions; to believe, accept.
- To engross; to appropriate; usually with up.
- To retract; to recant.
- To put up with; to bear patiently or without retaliation.
- To fellate; perform oral sex.
- A deep chasm or abyss in the earth.
- The mouth and throat; that which is used for swallowing; the gullet.
- The amount swallowed in one gulp; the act of swallowing.
- The opening in a pulley block between the sheave and shell through which the rope passes.
- Any of various carbohydrate-based dishes that are swallowed without much chewing, commonly paired and eaten with various types of soup.
- A small, migratory bird of the Hirundinidae family with long, pointed, moon-shaped wings and a forked tail which feeds on the wing by catching insects.
- A surname.
- A village and civil parish in West Lindsey district, Lincolnshire, England (OS grid ref TA1703).
Pronunciation
Word forms
Etymology
From Middle English swolwen, from Old English swelgan, from Proto-West Germanic *swelgan, from Proto-Germanic *swelganą (“to swallow, revel, devour”), from Proto-Indo-European *swelk- (“to gulp”). Cognate with Dutch zwelgen (“to revel, carouse, guzzle”), German schwelgen (“to delight, indulge”), Swedish svälja (“to swallow, gulp”), Icelandic svelgja (“to swallow”), Old English swillan, swilian (“to swill, wash out, gargle”). See also swill. The noun is from Middle English swolow, swolwe, from Old English swelh, swelg (“gulf, chasm”) and ġeswelge (“gulf, chasm, abyss, whirlpool”), both from Proto-West Germanic *swelg, *swalgi, from Proto-Germanic *swelgaz, *swalgiz. Cognate with Old English swiliġe (“pit”), Scots swelch, swellie, swallie (“an abyss in the sea, whirpool”), Middle Low German swelch (“whirlpool, eddy”), Dutch zwelg (“gorge, chasm, gullet, throat”), Old Norse svelgr (“whirlpool, current, stream”).