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Webster 1913 Edition

Swamp

Swamp

,
Noun.
[Cf. AS.
swam
a fungus, OD.
swam
a sponge, D.
zwam
a fungus, G.
schwamm
a sponge, Icel.
svöppr
, Dan. & Sw.
swamp
, Goth.
swamms
, Gr.
σομφόσ
porous, spongy.]
Wet, spongy land; soft, low ground saturated with water, but not usually covered with it; marshy ground away from the seashore.
Gray
swamps
and pools, waste places of the hern.
Tennyson.
A
swamp
differs from a bog and a marsh in producing trees and shrubs, while the latter produce only herbage, plants, and mosses.
Farming Encyc. (E. Edwards, Words).
Swamp blackbird
.
(Zool.)
See
Redwing
(b)
.
–
Swamp cabbage
(Bot.)
,
skunk cabbage.
–
Swamp deer
(Zool.)
,
an Asiatic deer (
Rucervus Duvaucelli
) of India.
–
Swamp hen
.
(Zool.)
(a)
An Australian azure-breasted bird (
Porphyrio bellus
); – called also
goollema
.
(b)
An Australian water crake, or rail (
Porzana Tabuensis
); – called also
little swamp hen
.
(c)
The European purple gallinule.
–
Swamp honeysuckle
(Bot.)
,
an American shrub (
Azalea viscosa
syn.
Rhododendron viscosa
or
Rhododendron viscosum
) growing in swampy places, with fragrant flowers of a white color, or white tinged with rose; – called also
swamp pink
and
white swamp honeysuckle
.
–
Swamp hook
,
a hook and chain used by lumbermen in handling logs. Cf.
Cant hook
.
–
Swamp itch
.
(Med.)
See
Prairie itch
, under
Prairie
.
–
Swamp laurel
(Bot.)
,
a shrub (
Kalmia glauca
) having small leaves with the lower surface glaucous.
–
Swamp maple
(Bot.)
,
red maple. See
Maple
.
–
Swamp oak
(Bot.)
,
a name given to several kinds of oak which grow in swampy places, as swamp Spanish oak (
Quercus palustris
), swamp white oak (
Quercus bicolor
), swamp post oak (
Quercus lyrata
).
–
Swamp ore
(Min.)
, bog ore; limonite.
–
Swamp partridge
(Zool.)
,
any one of several Australian game birds of the genera
Synoicus
and
Excalfatoria
, allied to the European partridges.
–
Swamp robin
(Zool.)
,
the chewink.
–
Swamp sassafras
(Bot.)
,
a small North American tree of the genus
Magnolia
(
Magnolia glauca
) with aromatic leaves and fragrant creamy-white blossoms; – called also
sweet bay
.
–
Swamp sparrow
(Zool.)
,
a common North American sparrow (
Melospiza Georgiana
, or
Melospiza palustris
), closely resembling the song sparrow. It lives in low, swampy places.
–
Swamp willow
.
(Bot.)
See
Pussy willow
, under
Pussy
.

Swamp

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Swamped
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Swamping
.]
1.
To plunge or sink into a swamp.
2.
(Naut.)
To cause (a boat) to become filled with water; to capsize or sink by whelming with water.
3.
Fig.: To plunge into difficulties and perils; to overwhelm; to ruin; to wreck.
The Whig majority of the house of Lords was
swamped
by the creation of twelve Tory peers.
J. R. Green.
Having
swamped
himself in following the ignis fatuus of a theory.
Sir W. Hamilton.

Swamp

,
Verb.
I.
1.
To sink or stick in a swamp; figuratively, to become involved in insuperable difficulties.
2.
To become filled with water, as a boat; to founder; to capsize or sink; figuratively, to be ruined; to be wrecked.

Webster 1828 Edition

Swamp

SWAMP

,
Noun.
Spungy land; low ground filled with water; soft wet ground. In New England, I believe this word is never applied to marsh, or the boggy land made by the overflowing of salt water, but always to low soft ground in the interior country; wet and spungy land, but not usually covered with water. This is the true meaning of the word. Swamps are often mowed. In England, the word is explained in books by boggy land, morassy or marshy ground.

SWAMP

,
Verb.
T.
To plunge, whelm or sink in a swamp; to plunge into difficulties inextricable.

Definition 2024

swamp

swamp

English

Alternative forms

Noun

swamp ‎(plural swamps)

  1. A piece of wet, spongy land; low ground saturated with water; soft, wet ground which may have a growth of certain kinds of trees, but is unfit for agricultural or pastoral purposes.
  2. A type of wetland that stretches for vast distances, and is home to many creatures who have adapted specifically to that environment.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

Verb

swamp ‎(third-person singular simple present swamps, present participle swamping, simple past and past participle swamped)

  1. To drench or fill with water.
    The boat was swamped in the storm.
  2. To overwhelm; to make too busy, or overrun the capacity of.
    I have been swamped with paperwork ever since they started using the new system.
    • 2006, New York Times,
      Mr. Spitzer’s defeat of his Democratic opponent ... ended a primary season in which Hillary Rodham Clinton swamped an antiwar challenger for renomination to the Senate.
  3. (figuratively) To plunge into difficulties and perils; to overwhelm; to ruin; to wreck.
    • J. R. Green
      The Whig majority of the house of Lords was swamped by the creation of twelve Tory peers.
    • W. Hamilton
      Having swamped himself in following the ignis fatuus of a theory […]

Translations

Etymology

From a fusion of Middle English swam ‎(“swamp, muddy pool, bog, marsh", also "fungus, mushroom”), from Old English swamm ‎(“mushroom, fungus, sponge”), and Middle English sompe ‎(“marsh, morass”), from Middle Dutch somp, sump ‎(“marsh, swamp”), or Middle Low German sump ‎(“marsh, swamp”), from Old Saxon *sump ‎(“swamp, marsh”); all from Proto-Germanic *sumpaz. Cognate with Dutch zwamp ‎(“swamp, marsh, fen”), Middle Low German swamp ‎(“sponge, mushroom”), Dutch zomp ‎(“swamp, lake, marshy place”), German Sumpf ‎(“swamp”), Swedish sump ‎(“swamp”). Related also to Dutch zwam ‎(“fungus, punk, tinder”), German Schwamm ‎(“mushroom, fungus, sponge”), Swedish svamp ‎(“mushroom, fungus, sponge”), Icelandic svampur, sveppur ‎(“fungus”), Gothic 𐍃𐍅𐌿𐌼𐍃𐌻 ‎(swumsl, “a ditch”). Related to sump, swim.

Pronunciation

  • Rhymes: -ɒmp

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