- Swell
- Swell Swell, n.
1. The act of swelling.
[1913 Webster]
2. Gradual increase. Specifically: (a) Increase or augmentation in bulk; protuberance. (b) Increase in height; elevation; rise. [1913 Webster]
Little River affords navigation during a swell to within three miles of the Miami. --Jefferson. [1913 Webster] (c) Increase of force, intensity, or volume of sound. [1913 Webster]
Music arose with its voluptuous swell. --Byron. [1913 Webster] (d) Increase of power in style, or of rhetorical force. [1913 Webster]
The swell and subsidence of his periods. --Landor. [1913 Webster]
3. A gradual ascent, or rounded elevation, of land; as, an extensive plain abounding with little swells. [1913 Webster]
4. A wave, or billow; especially, a succession of large waves; the roll of the sea after a storm; as, a heavy swell sets into the harbor. [1913 Webster]
The swell Of the long waves that roll in yonder bay. --Tennyson. [1913 Webster]
The gigantic swells and billows of the snow. --Hawthorne. [1913 Webster]
5. (Mus.) A gradual increase and decrease of the volume of sound; the crescendo and diminuendo combined; -- generally indicated by the sign. [1913 Webster]
6. A showy, dashing person; a dandy. [Slang] [1913 Webster]
{Ground swell}. See under {Ground}.
{Organ swell} (Mus.), a certain number of pipes inclosed in a box, the uncovering of which by means of a pedal produces increased sound.
{Swell shark} (Zo["o]l.), a small shark ({Scyllium ventricosum}) of the west coast of North America, which takes in air when caught, and swells up like a swellfish. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.
