dwell

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English dwellen, inherited from Old English dwellan (“to lead astray, hinder, delay”),^[2][3][4][5] from Proto-Germanic *dwaljaną (“to delay, hinder”),^[6][7][8] a causative of the strong verb seen in Old High German gitwelan (“to be stunned”).^[3][9] It is related to dwelian (“to be led into error”),^[10][5] gedwola (“error, heresy”) and to dull and dwale.^[10][11] Cognates are Old Norse dvelja (“to delay, tarry”), Old Saxon bidwellian (“to hinder”), Middle Dutch dwellen (“to stun, perplex”), Old High German twellen (“to hinder, delay”) and Gothic 𐌳𐍅𐌰𐌻𐍃 (dwals, “foolish”).^{[3][12][9][8][13][7]} Etymonline and Ayto take the base back to Proto-Indo-European *dhwel-, an extended form of Proto-Indo-European *dheu- (“dust, cloud, vapour”),^[10][13] and Ayto compares Irish dall (“blind”).^[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Old English, to lead into error, mislead or delude: in King Alfred's translation of Boethius.^[3][5] Barnhart dates the Old English verb to about 725.^[8]

Semantic evolution

Ayto calls the change of meaning remarkable: by the end of the Old English period "lead astray" had moved to "hinder, delay", probably under the influence of dvelja, and then through "linger" to "make one's home".^[13][14] In the Ormulum (about 1175) it meant to tarry or delay, and also to remain for a time in a place or state.^[3][8] The sense "to live in a place" is dated about 1250 by Barnhart, but 1303 by the OED;^[8][3] the OED notes that in speech it has been largely replaced by live.^[3] The phrase dwell on, to linger over something in thought or speech, dates from before 1522.^[3][9] Later technical uses are a horse's slowness in lifting its feet (1740) and, in mechanics, a pause in a machine's motion (verb 1836, noun 1841).^[3]

Timeline

• c. 725 – Old English dwellan, to lead astray, hinder.^[8]
• c. 1175 – to tarry, delay; to remain for a time.^[3]
• before 1300 – noun, delay (obsolete by 1400).^[3]
• c. 1250 – to reside.^[8]
• 1303 – to reside, have one's abode.^[3]
• before 1522 – dwell on, to linger over in thought.^[3]
• 1740 – of a horse, to be slow in lifting its feet.^[3]
• 1841 – noun, a pause in the motion of a machine part.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. (formal or literary) To live in a place as one's home; reside: Few people now dwell in the old fishing village.^[15][16][3]
2. To live or remain in a given state or condition.^[15][16]
3. To exist or be present in something.^[16]
4. dwell on or dwell upon: to linger over something in thought, speech or writing: Try not to dwell on past mistakes.^[16][3][15]
5. Of a horse, to be slow in raising the feet, or to pause before a jump.^[3]
6. (obsolete) To lead astray or mislead.^[3][9]

Noun

1. A short regular pause in the motion of a part of a machine, giving time for an operation.^[15][16][3]
2. The time during which material undergoes a particular process, such as contact with a printing surface.^[16][3]

Word family

• dweller
• indwell
• outdwell

Related words

• dwelling
• dull
• dwale

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b c Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
6. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
7. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
8. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
9. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
12. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ a b c d Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
14. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
15. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
16. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster