swell

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English swellen,^[2][3][4] inherited from Old English swellan (“to grow in bulk”), a strong verb with the past tense sweall and the past participle swollen,^[2][5][6] inherited from Proto-Germanic *swellaną.^[2][7][8] Its cognates include Old Saxon swellan, Old Frisian swella, Middle Dutch swellen, Dutch zwellen, Old High German swellan, German schwellen and Old Norse svella,^[2][7][6][9] and Merriam-Webster and Weekley add Gothic 𐌿𐍆𐍃𐍅𐌰𐌻𐌻𐌴𐌹𐌽𐍃 (ufswalleins, “inflation, conceit”).^[4][10] Kroonen calls it an exclusively Germanic verb,^[7] and Hoad knows no cognates outside Germanic;^[6] Etymonline quotes Boutkan's view that it is most likely a substratum word.^[2] The noun in its first sense, a morbid swelling, probably continues geswell; its other senses come from the verb.^[5][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

To become larger in bulk, as from pressure within: Old English, in Beowulf,^[5] which Barnhart dates about 725.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Of the sea or a river, to rise above its usual level or in waves, the verb is recorded about 1200 according to Etymonline,^[2] but only before 1382 in the OED.^[5] By the late 14th century it was used of rising emotions and pride;^[2] transitively, to make larger, it is found from about 1400.^[2][5] From 1602 it also meant to increase something in amount or degree,^[5] and since 1679 it has also described shape rather than movement, to bulge out.^[5] The noun began in medicine, a morbid swelling, before 1250 in the Ancrene Riwle, and died out in this sense by 1400.^[5][2] Shakespeare first used it of the long rolling waves of the sea (before 1616),^[5][12] and later senses include a gentle rise of ground (1764), a gradual increase and decrease of loudness in music (1757) and a device for varying the loudness of an organ (1774).^[5][2] From 1724 a swell was a pompous or arrogant air,^[5][2] and by 1786 a fashionable, stylish or wealthy person,^[2][13] probably from that swaggering behaviour.^[14][2] From the person came the adjective, "stylishly dressed" (1810) and "stylish, first-rate" (1819), weakened in American use to "fine, splendid" by 1926;^[5][2] swell as a cry of satisfaction is recorded from 1930, in Hammett's Maltese Falcon.^[5][2] In Scots and northern dialect the verb has the forms swal and swall, with the past swalled.^[15]

Timeline

• c. 725 – swellan, to grow larger, in Beowulf.^[9][5]
• before 1250 – noun, a morbid swelling (obsolete by 1400).^[5]
• before 1382 – of water, to rise in waves or above its level.^[5]
• c. 1400 – transitive, to make larger.^[5][2]
• before 1616 – the rolling waves of the sea, in Shakespeare.^[5]
• 1679 – to bulge out.^[5]
• 1724 – a pompous or arrogant air.^[5]
• 1757 – Music: a crescendo followed by a diminuendo.^[5]
• 1764 – a gentle rise of ground.^[5]
• c. 1785 – a fashionable, stylish person.^[13]
• 1810 – adjective, stylishly dressed.^[5][2]
• 1856 – adverb, very well.^[5][13]
• 1930 – interjection of satisfaction.^[5][2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To grow or make larger, especially through pressure from within: Her ankle swelled after the fall.^[16][4][5]
2. To bulge or stand out above the surrounding level.^[16][5]
3. To grow or make greater in number, amount or intensity: New members swelled the club's ranks.^[16][4][5]
4. To be filled or puffed up with pride or another emotion.^[16][2]
5. Of the sea or a river, to rise in waves or above its usual level.^[16][5]
6. Of a sound, to grow gradually louder.^[2]

Noun

1. The state of being swollen; a bulge or rounded part.^[4][5]
2. The rolling of the sea in long waves that do not break, or such waves.^[5][11]
3. A gentle rounded rise of land.^[4][5]
4. (music) A gradual crescendo and diminuendo, or the sign for it.^[5][2]
5. A device for varying the loudness of an organ.^[5]
6. (dated, informal) A stylish, fashionable or important person.^[2][13][4]

Adjective

1. (informal, chiefly US, dated) Excellent, very good: We had a swell time at the fair.^[5][2][13]
2. (dated) Stylish, fashionable or socially prominent.^[4][5]

Adverb

1. (informal, chiefly US) Very well.^[5][13]

Word family

• reswell
• swellfish
• swellhead
• groundswell
• upswell
• underswell
• swell box

Related words

• swelling

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
8. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
9. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
10. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
11. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ a b c d e f Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
14. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
15. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
16. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins