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Webster 1913 Edition

Swarm

Swarm

,
Verb.
I.
[Cf.
Swerve
.]
To climb a tree, pole, or the like, by embracing it with the arms and legs alternately. See
Shin
.
[Colloq.]
At the top was placed a piece of money, as a prize for those who could
swarm
up and seize it.
W. Coxe.

Swarm

,
Noun.
[OE.
swarm
, AS.
swearm
; akin to D.
zwerm
, G.
schwarm
, OHG.
swaram
, Icel.
svarmr
a tumult, Sw.
svärm
a swarm, Dan.
svaerm
, and G.
schwirren
to whiz, to buzz, Skr.
svar
to sound, and perhaps to E.
swear
. √177. Cf.
Swerve
,
Swirl
.]
1.
A large number or mass of small animals or insects, especially when in motion.
“A deadly swarm of hornets.”
Milton.
2.
Especially, a great number of honeybees which emigrate from a hive at once, and seek new lodgings under the direction of a queen; a like body of bees settled permanently in a hive.
“A swarm of bees.”
Chaucer.
3.
Hence, any great number or multitude, as of people in motion, or sometimes of inanimate objects;
as, a
swarm
of meteorites
.
Those prodigious
swarms
that had settled themselves in every part of it [Italy].
Addison.
Syn. – Multitude; crowd; throng.

Swarm

,
Verb.
I.
[
imp. & p. p.
Swarmed
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Swarming
.]
1.
To collect, and depart from a hive by flight in a body; – said of bees;
as, bees
swarm
in warm, clear days in summer
.
2.
To appear or collect in a crowd; to throng together; to congregate in a multitude.
Chaucer.
3.
To be crowded; to be thronged with a multitude of beings in motion.
Every place
swarms
with soldiers.
Spenser.
4.
To abound; to be filled (with).
Atterbury.
5.
To breed multitudes.
Not so thick
swarmed
once the soil
Bedropped with blood of Gorgon.
Milton.

Swarm

,
Verb.
T.
To crowd or throng.
Fanshawe.

Webster 1828 Edition

Swarm

SWARM

,
Noun.
sworm. [L. ferveo, and boiling is very expressive of the motions of a swarm of bees. See the Verb.]
1.
In a general sense, a large number or body of small animals or insects, particularly when in motion; but appropriately, a great number of honey bees which emigrate from a hive at once, and seek new lodgings under the direction of a queen; or a like body of bees united and settled permanently in a hive. The bees that leave a hive in spring, are the young bees produced in the year preceding. Ex.8. Judges 14.
2.
A swarm or multitude; particularly, a multitude of people in motion. Swarms of northern nations overran the south of Europe in the fifth century.
Note.--The application of this word to inanimate things, as swarms of advantages, by Shakespeare, and swarms of themes, by Young, is not legitimate, for the essence of the word is motion.

SWARM

,
Verb.
I.
sworm.
1.
To collect and depart from a hive by flight in a body, as bees. Bees swarm in warm, clear days in summer.
2.
To appear or collect in a crowd; to run; to throng together; to congregate in a multitude.
In crowds around the swarming people join.
3.
To be crowded; to be thronged with a multitude of animals in motion. The forests in America often swarm with wild pigeons. The northern seas in spring swarm with herrings.
Every place swarms with soldiers.
[Such phrases as 'life swarms with ills,' 'those days swarmed with fables,' are not legitimate, or wholly obsolete.
4.
To breed multitudes.
5.
To climb, as a tree, by embracing it with the arms and legs, and scrambling.
At the top was placed a piece of money, as a prize for those who could swarm up and seize it.
Note.--This, by the common people in New England, is pronounced squirm or squurm, and it is evidently formed on worm, indicating that worm and warm, on which swarm and squirm are formed, are radically the same word. The primary sense is to bend, wind, twist, as a worm, or a swarm of bees. It may be formed on the foot of veer, vary.

SWARM

,
Verb.
T.
To crowd or throng. [Not in use.]

Definition 2024

swarm

swarm

English

Noun

swarm of locusts.

swarm ‎(plural swarms)

  1. A large number of insects, especially when in motion or (for bees) migrating to a new colony.
    • (Can we date this quote?) Template:W
      a deadly swarm of hornets
  2. A mass of people, animals or things in motion or turmoil.
    a swarm of meteorites
    • (Can we date this quote?) Addison
      those prodigious swarms that had settled themselves in every part of it [Italy]
  3. (computing) A group of nodes sharing the same torrent in a BitTorrent network.

Translations

Verb

swarm ‎(third-person singular simple present swarms, present participle swarming, simple past and past participle swarmed)

  1. (intransitive) To move as a swarm.
    • 1915, George A. Birmingham, “chapter I”, in Gossamer (Project Gutenberg; EBook #24394), London: Methuen & Co., published 8 January 2013 (Project Gutenberg version), OCLC 558189256:
      There is an hour or two, after the passengers have embarked, which is disquieting and fussy. Mail bags, so I understand, are being put on board. Stewards, carrying cabin trunks, swarm in the corridors.
  2. (intransitive) To teem, or be overrun with insects, people, etc.
    • (Can we date this quote?) Edmund Spenser
      Every place swarms with soldiers.
  3. (transitive) To fill a place as a swarm.
  4. (transitive) To overwhelm as by an opposing army.
  5. To climb by gripping with arms and legs alternately.
    • (Can we date this quote?) William Coxe
      At the top was placed a piece of money, as a prize for those who could swarm up and seize it.
    • 1919, W. Somerset Maugham, The Moon and Sixpence, chapter 55
      She called out, and a boy came running along. He swarmed up a tree, and presently threw down a ripe nut. Ata pierced a hole in it, and the doctor took a long, refreshing draught.
  6. To breed multitudes.
    • (Can we date this quote?) John Milton
      Not so thick swarmed once the soil / Bedropped with blood of Gorgon.

Translations

See also

  • Appendix:English collective nouns

Anagrams

Etymology

From Middle English swarm, from Old English swearm ‎(“swarm, multitude”), from Proto-Germanic *swarmaz ‎(“swarm, dizziness”), from Proto-Indo-European *swer- ‎(“to buzz, hum”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Swoorm ‎(“swarm”), Dutch zwerm, German Schwarm, Danish sværm, Swedish svärm, Icelandic svarmur ‎(“tumult, swarm”), Latin susurrus ‎(“whispering, humming”), Lithuanian surma ‎(“a pipe”), Russian свире́ль ‎(svirélʹ, “a pipe, reed”).

The verb is from Middle English swarmen, swermen, from Old English swierman ‎(“to swarm”), from Proto-Germanic *swarmijaną ‎(“to swarm”), from the noun. Cognate with Scots swairm, swerm ‎(“to swarm”), Dutch zwermen, German schwärmen, Danish sværme, Swedish svärma.

Pronunciation

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