swarm

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English

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
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Etymology

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From Middle English swarm, from Old English swearm (swarm, multitude), from Proto-West Germanic *swarm, 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-West Germanic *swarmijan, 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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Noun

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swarm of locusts.

swarm (plural swarms)

  1. A large number of insects, especially when in motion or (for bees) migrating to a new colony.
  2. A mass of people, animals or things in motion or turmoil.
    a swarm of meteorites
    • 1705, J[oseph] Addison, Remarks on Several Parts of Italy, &c. in the Years 1701, 1702, 1703, London: [] Jacob Tonson, [], →OCLC:
      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.
  4. (seismology) A number of small earthquakes (or other seismic events) occurring, with no clear cause, in a specific area within a relatively short space of time.
    • 2020, Daniel Yergin, The New Map, Penguin, published 2021, page 28:
      Earthquakes were another concern, particularly after swarms were felt in Oklahoma.

Derived terms

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Translations

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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Verb

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

  1. (intransitive) To move as a swarm.
    • 1915, G[eorge] A. Birmingham [pseudonym; James Owen Hannay], chapter I, in Gossamer, New York, N.Y.: George H. Doran Company, →OCLC:
      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.
    • 1596 (date written; published 1633), Edmund Spenser, A Vewe of the Present State of Irelande [], Dublin: [] Societie of Stationers, [], →OCLC; republished as A View of the State of Ireland [] (Ancient Irish Histories), Dublin: [] Society of Stationers, [] Hibernia Press, [] [b]y John Morrison, 1809, →OCLC:
      Every place swarming with soldiers.
  3. (transitive) To fill a place as a swarm.
  4. (transitive) To overwhelm as by an opposing army.
    • 2019 March 6, Drachinifel, 37:59 from the start, in The Battle of Samar (Alternate History) - Bring on the Battleships![1], archived from the original on 20 July 2022:
      So, yeah. The overall conclusion of the big gunfight being that, if Yamato is able to tackle the Colorados early, then the Japanese probably have a, maybe a sixty-to-sixty-five-percent chance of pulling this off... although you say "pulling it off", it's more a case of "the Japanese are the last battleship standing"; they tend to then just get swarmed by angry Fletchers []
  5. To climb by gripping with arms and legs alternately.
  6. To breed multitudes.
    • 1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. [], London: [] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker []; [a]nd by Robert Boulter []; [a]nd Matthias Walker, [], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: [], London: Basil Montagu Pickering [], 1873, →OCLC, lines 526–527:
      Not ſo thick ſwarm'd once the Soil / Bedropt with blood of Gorgon,

Translations

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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

See also

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Anagrams

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Middle English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Old English swearm, from Proto-Germanic *swarmaz.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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swarm (plural swarmes)

  1. A swarm (large, moving group of bees)
  2. (rare) A large group of people.

Derived terms

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Descendants

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  • English: swarm
  • Scots: swairm

References

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