swallow

Meanings

Verb

• 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.

Noun

• 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.
• 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.

Related

Similar words

• martin

Origin

• From Middle English swolowen, swolwen, swolȝen, swelwen, swelȝen, from Old English swelgan, from Proto-West Germanic *swelgan, from Proto-Germanic *swelganą, from Proto-Indo-European *swelk-. Cognate with Dutch zwelgen, German schwelgen, Swedish svälja, Icelandic svelgja, Old English swillan, swilian. See also swill.
• The noun is from Middle English swelwe, swolwe, from Old English swelh, swelg and ġeswelge, both from Proto-West Germanic *swelg, *swalgi, from Proto-Germanic *swelgaz, *swalgiz. Cognate with Old English swiliġe, Scots swelch, swellie, swallie, Middle Low German swelch, Dutch zwelg, Old Norse svelgr.
• Image:Hirundo daurica.jpg|thumb|A red-rumped swallow
• From Middle English swalwe, swalewe, swalowe, from Old English swealwe, from Proto-West Germanic *swalwā, from Proto-Germanic *swalwǭ. Cognate with Danish and Norwegian svale, Dutch zwaluw, German Schwalbe, Swedish svala.