swell
part of speech
verb (swell, swells, swelled, swollen or swelled, swelling); noun (a swell — waves; swelling); adjective (swell — old-fashioned US slang: great)
meaning for a pupil
1) To get bigger, rounder or fuller, often because of injury, water or air (My ankle swelled up). tree →
2) To grow in number, size, loudness or strength (The crowd swelled). tree →
3) A swell: the long, smooth rise and fall of waves in the sea. tree →
4) (old-fashioned American) Excellent, very nice (That's swell!). tree →
5) A feeling growing strong inside you (a swell of pride). tree →
sense in the lessons
In the Tanakh and Jewish tradition: In Numbers it describes the effect of the bitter water on a woman who had broken her marriage vow. In Deuteronomy it says the Israelites' feet did not swell in the desert. Interpretation: The bitter water ritual (sotah) was a test of faithfulness. The unswollen feet are read as a miracle showing God's care in the wilderness. In the primary lessons: In first aid: an injury like a sprain or a bee sting can make the body swell; rest, ice, compression and raising it help reduce swelling. In science, wood and seeds swell when they take in water; rivers swell after heavy rain and can flood. In beach safety, a big swell means large waves and dangerous currents — listen to lifeguards. Phrases: swell up, swollen ankle, ocean swell, swell with pride.
examples
- Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years. (Torah DEU.8.4, JPS 1917) tree →
- and this water that causeth the curse shall go into thy bowels, and make thy belly to swell, and thy thigh to fall away'; and the woman shall say: 'Amen, Amen.' (Torah NUM.5.22, JPS 1917) tree →
- Yea, forty years didst Thou sustain them in the wilderness, and they lacked nothing; their clothes waxed not old, and their feet swelled not. (Writings NEH.9.21, JPS 1917) tree →
- My finger swelled up after the bee sting. tree →
- Put ice on your ankle to stop it swelling. tree →
- The river swelled after days of heavy rain. tree →
- Dried beans swell when you soak them in water. tree →
- There's a big swell today, so the beach is closed. tree →
- Her heart swelled with pride when she won. tree →
- «Gee, that's swell!» said the boy in the old film. tree →
- Affrighted though she was, Wendy swelled with pride. tree →
note
Past participle: «swollen» (my eye is swollen) is more common as an adjective; «swelled» is also used. Noun: swelling (a bump on the body). If swelling comes with trouble breathing, get emergency help — it may be an allergic reaction.
In the corpora
- Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years.
- An onion is a bulb whose layers are swollen leaves storing food for next year's growth.
- Some honeypot ant workers swell with sweet liquid and hang from the nest roof like living jars, storing food for hard times.
- Not everything under the ground is a root, though: a potato is a swollen stem, and its eyes are buds.
- Swell sharks gulp water to puff themselves up and wedge into rock cracks so a predator cannot pull them out.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «swell» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.