Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Wallow
Wal′low
,Verb.
I.
[
imp. & p. p.
Wallowed
; p. pr. & vb. n.
Wallowing
.] [OE. ]
walwen
, AS. wealwian
; akin to Goth. walwjan
(in comp.) to roll, L. volvere
; cf. Skr. val
to turn. √147. Cf. Voluble Well
, Noun.
1.
To roll one’s self about, as in mire; to tumble and roll about; to move lazily or heavily in any medium; to flounder;
as, swine
. wallow
in the mireI may
wallow
in the lily beds. Shakespeare
2.
To live in filth or gross vice; to disport one's self in a beastly and unworthy manner.
God sees a man
wallowing
in his native impurity. South.
3.
To wither; to fade.
[Prov. Eng. & Scot.]
Wal′low
,Verb.
T.
To roll; esp., to roll in anything defiling or unclean.
“Wallow thyself in ashes.” Jer. vi. 26.
Wal′low
,Noun.
A kind of rolling walk.
One taught the toss, and one the new French
wallow
. Dryden.
Webster 1828 Edition
Wallow
WALLOW
,Verb.
I.
1.
To roll ones body on the earth, in mire, or on other substance; to tumble and roll in water. Swine wallow in the mire.2.
To move heavily and clumsily.Part huge of bulk, wallowing unwieldy, enormous in their gait, tempest the ocean. [Unusual.]
3.
To live in filth or gross vice; as man wallowing in his native impurity.WALLOW
,Verb.
T.
Wallow thyself in ashes. Jeremiah 6.
WALLOW
,Noun.
Definition 2024
wallow
wallow
English
Alternative forms
- waller (eye dialect)
Verb
wallow (third-person singular simple present wallows, present participle wallowing, simple past and past participle wallowed)
- (intransitive) To roll oneself about in something dirty, for example in mud
- Pigs wallow in the mud.
- Shakespeare:
- I may wallow in the lily beds.
- to move lazily or heavily in any medium; to flounder
- (intransitive) To immerse oneself in, to occupy oneself with, metaphorically.
- She wallowed in her misery.
- 1610, Alexander Cooke, Pope Joane, in William Oldys, editor, The Harleian Miscellany: or, A Collection of Scarce, Curious, and Entertaining Pamphlets and Tracts, as well in Manuscript as in Print, Found in the Late Earl of Oxford's Library: Interspersed with Historical, Political, and Critical Notes: With a Table of the Contents, and an Alphabetical Index, volume IV, London: Printed for T[homas] Osborne, in Gray's-Inn, 1744, OCLC 5325177; republished as John Maltham, editor, The Harleian Miscellany; or, A Collection of Scarce, Curious, and Entertaining Pamphlets and Tracts, as well in Manuscript as in Print, Found in the Late Earl of Oxford's Library, Interspersed with Historical, Political, and Critical Notes, volume IV, London: Printed for R. Dutton, 1808–1811, OCLC 30776079, page 95:
- If there bee any lasie fellow, any that cannot away with worke, any that would wallow in pleasures, hee is hastie to be priested. And when hee is made one, and has gotten a benefice, he consorts with his neighbour priests, who are altogether given to pleasures; and then both hee, and they, live, not like Christians, but like epicures; drinking, eating, feasting, and revelling, till the cow come home, as the saying is.
- The Simpsons (TV series):
- With Smithers out of the picture I was free to wallow in my own crapulence.
- (intransitive) To live in filth or in a sickening manner.
- South:
- God sees a man wallowing in his native impurity.
- South:
- (intransitive, Britain, Scotland, dialect) To wither; to fade.
Usage notes
In the sense of “to immerse oneself in, to occupy oneself with”, it is almost exclusively used for self-indulgent negative emotions, particularly self-pity. See synonyms for general or positive alternatives, such as revel.
Synonyms
Translations
to roll one's self about, as in mire; to tumble and roll about; to move lazily or heavily in any medium; to flounder; as, swine wallow in the mire
to immerse oneself in, to occupy oneself with, metaphorically
to roll; especially, to roll in anything defiling or unclean, as a hog might do to dust its body to relieve the distress of insect biting or cool its body with mud
to live in filth or gross vice; to disport one's self in a beastly and unworthy manner
Noun
wallow (plural wallows)
- An instance of wallowing.
- A pool of water or mud in which animals wallow, or the depression left by them in the ground.
- A kind of rolling walk.
Translations
An instance of wallowing
|
|
A pool of water or mud in which animals wallow
A kind of rolling walk
Etymology 2
(From inflected forms of) Old English wealġ, from Proto-Germanic *walwo-. Cognate with Dutch walg (“disgust”), dialectal Norwegian valg (“tasteless”). Compare waugh.