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Swallow   /swˈɑloʊ/  /swˈɔloʊ/   Listen
verb
Swallow  v. t.  (past & past part. swallowed; pres. part. swallowing)  
1.
To take into the stomach; to receive through the gullet, or esophagus, into the stomach; as, to swallow food or drink. "As if I had swallowed snowballs for pills."
2.
To draw into an abyss or gulf; to ingulf; to absorb usually followed by up. "The earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their houses."
3.
To receive or embrace, as opinions or belief, without examination or scruple; to receive implicitly. "Though that story... be not so readily swallowed."
4.
To engross; to appropriate; usually with up. "Homer excels... in this, that he swallowed up the honor of those who succeeded him."
5.
To occupy; to take up; to employ. "The necessary provision of the life swallows the greatest part of their time."
6.
To seize and waste; to exhaust; to consume. "Corruption swallowed what the liberal hand Of bounty scattered."
7.
To retract; to recant; as, to swallow one's opinions. "Swallowed his vows whole."
8.
To put up with; to bear patiently or without retaliation; as, to swallow an affront or insult.
Synonyms: To absorb; imbibe; ingulf; engross; consume. See Absorb.


Swallow  v. i.  To perform the act of swallowing; as, his cold is so severe he is unable to swallow.


noun
Swallow  n.  
1.
(Zool.) Any one of numerous species of passerine birds of the family Hirundinidae, especially one of those species in which the tail is deeply forked. They have long, pointed wings, and are noted for the swiftness and gracefulness of their flight. Note: The most common North American species are the barn swallow (see under Barn), the cliff, or eaves, swallow (see under Cliff), the white-bellied, or tree, swallow (Tachycineta bicolor), and the bank swallow (see under Bank). The common European swallow (Chelidon rustica), and the window swallow, or martin (Chelidon urbica), are familiar species.
2.
(Zool.) Any one of numerous species of swifts which resemble the true swallows in form and habits, as the common American chimney swallow, or swift.
3.
(Naut.) The aperture in a block through which the rope reeves.
Swallow plover (Zool.), any one of several species of fork-tailed ploverlike birds of the genus Glareola, as Glareola orientalis of India; a pratincole.
Swallow shrike (Zool.), any one of several species of East Indian and Asiatic birds of the family Artamiidae, allied to the shrikes but similar to swallows in appearance and habits. The ashy swallow shrike (Artamus fuscus) is common in India.
Swallow warbler (Zool.), any one of numerous species of East Indian and Australian singing birds of the genus Dicaeum. They are allied to the honeysuckers.


Swallow  n.  
1.
The act of swallowing.
2.
The gullet, or esophagus; the throat.
3.
Taste; relish; inclination; liking. (Colloq.) "I have no swallow for it."
4.
Capacity for swallowing; voracity. "There being nothing too gross for the swallow of political rancor."
5.
As much as is, or can be, swallowed at once; as, a swallow of water.
6.
That which ingulfs; a whirlpool. (Obs.)





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Swallow" Quotes from Famous Books



... concupiscence, and raise it to a pitch of intensity which it never has reached before. The competent, to whose energies the riches of the world are due, are to put these riches away from them as though they were food offered by the devil. The incompetent, with thankless but perpetually open mouths, are to swallow this same food as though it were the bread from heaven. In other words, according to our Christian socialist, the sin against the Holy Ghost, which is involved in the enjoyment of riches, is not the enjoyment of material superfluities itself, ...
— A Critical Examination of Socialism • William Hurrell Mallock
... it cooler than even the hardest mattress. I did not sleep much, however, for so many rats and lizards ran about my room. These small, bright-eyed lizards go up the walls in search of flies. They dart upon the fly with very great speed, but just as you think that they are about to swallow him they pause for a second or two and then make the spring. I have never seen a fly escape during this pause, which looks as if the lizard charmed or petrified his victim. The Malays have a proverb based upon this fact: "Even the lizard gives the fly ...
— The Golden Chersonese and the Way Thither • Isabella L. Bird (Mrs. Bishop)
... but after a while they found themselves returning to Bloomsbury. They could not keep away from the house.... They tried to eat a meal at the Vienna Cafe, but they could not swallow the food, so they paid their bill and went away. They wandered into the British Museum, and tried to interest themselves ...
— Changing Winds - A Novel • St. John G. Ervine
... the ballad-monger, who had not opened his mouth but to swallow everything that came within his reach, "I know some men of talent who think highly of the judgments of Parisian critics. I myself have a pretty reputation as a musician," he went on, with an air of diffidence. "I owe ...
— Gambara • Honore de Balzac
... of the nightingale will ring from leafy hollow, And fill us with a rapture indescribable in words; And we shall also listen to the robin and the swallow (I wonder if a swallow sings?) and ... well, the ...
— The Book of Humorous Verse • Various


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