swamp
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Alternative forms
- swomp (obsolete)
Etymology
Early attestations (starting in 1624)[1] are from North America,[2] but the term was probably in local use in Britain earlier.[2] The etymology is not entirely certain; it is probably a fusion of Middle English swam (“swamp, muddy pool, bog, marsh”, also “fungus, mushroom”) — from Old English swamm (“mushroom, fungus, sponge”), from Proto-West Germanic *swamm, from Proto-Germanic *swambaz, *swammaz — and Middle English sompe (“marsh, morass”), from either Middle Dutch somp, sump (“marsh, swamp”) or Middle Low German sump (“marsh, swamp”) (from Old Saxon *sump (“swamp, marsh”)), both from Proto-West Germanic *sump, from Proto-Germanic *sumpaz. *swambaz, *swammaz and *sumpaz are likely related to each other, but it is unclear whether they are of Indo-European origin or are substrate words or wanderworts.[3]
The word has alternatively been suggested to be a borrowing from Dutch zwamp (“swamp, marsh, fen”).[4] Other cognates include Middle Low German swamp (“sponge, mushroom”), Dutch zomp (“swamp, lake, marshy place”), German Low German Sump (“swamp, bog, marsh”), 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
Noun
swamp (plural swamps)
- 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 (a type of wetland). (Compare marsh, bog, fen.)
- 1624, John Smith, Virginia IV., page 163:
- Some small Marshes and Swamps there are, but more profitable than hurtfull.
- 1624, John Smith, Virginia IV., page 163:
- (figurative) A place or situation that is foul or where progress is difficult.
- 2017, Cassandra Clark, Alchemist of Netley Abbey:
- We two...in this swamp of iniquity...together we can bring redress to an unjust world.
Derived terms
- Asian swamp eel
- backswamp
- Chinese swamp cypress
- data swamp
- drain the swamp
- European swamp thistle
- fever-swamp
- fever swamp
- food swamp
- paleoswamp
- swampable
- swamp angel
- swamp antechinus
- swamp ape
- swamp ass
- swamp azalea
- swamp beggar-ticks
- swampbilly
- swamp blues
- swamp boat
- swampbuster
- swampbusting
- swamp cancer
- swamp chestnut oak
- swamp cooler
- swamp cottonwood
- swamp crocodile
- swamp crotch
- swampdragon
- swamp eel
- swamper
- swamp francolin
- swampful
- swamp gas
- swamp gum
- swamp harrier
- swamphen
- swamp holly
- swampish
- swampland
- swampless
- swamplife
- swamplike
- swamp lily
- swamp maple
- swamp milkweed
- swamp monkey
- swamp nigger
- swamp oak
- swamp oak tree
- swamp orchid
- swamp ore
- swamp partridge
- swamp pine
- swamp pink
- swamp pop
- swampprivet
- swamp-privet
- swamp puppy
- swamp rabbit
- swamp rat
- swampside
- swamp Spanish oak
- swamp taro
- swamp tiger
- swamp wallaby
- swampwatcher
- swamp water
- swampweed
- swamp white oak
- swampy
Descendants
Translations
type of wetland
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See also
- bog (bogland), bogmire
- marsh (marshland)
- moor (moorland)
- fen (fenland)
- bayou, carr (carrland), everglade (glade), lagg, mangal, mangrove, mire (mireland), morass, moss (UK) (mossland), muskeg (Canada, US), pakihi (NZ), peat bog, peatland, petary, pocosin, quag/quagmire, slack, slough (sloughland), slue, sog, swale, swampland, syrt/syrtis (archaic), wash, wetland
- salt marsh, salina, salting
Verb
swamp (third-person singular simple present swamps, present participle swamping, simple past and past participle swamped)
- To drench or fill with water.
- The boat was swamped in the storm.
- (figurative) 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.
- 1991 May 5, Stewart Ain, “Bottom Falls Out Of Summer Job Market”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
- "I'm being swamped now with calls from parents and young people who are upset that there are not many options for employment this summer," he said.
- 2006 September 13, Patrick Healy, “Spitzer and Clinton Win in N.Y. Primary”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
- 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.
- 2024 November 13, Paul Bigland, “Much to admire... but pockets of neglect”, in RAIL, number 1022, page 48:
- All is well until Treorchy, where the platform is swamped by teenagers who have been attending an event. Around four dozen unescorted 12 to 16 year-olds swarm aboard and begin to run riot through the train. Their behaviour is appalling and the presence of CCTV no deterrent.
- (figurative) To plunge into difficulties and perils; to overwhelm; to ruin; to wreck.
- 1874, John Richard Green, A Short History of the English People:
- The Whig majority of the house of Lords was swamped by the creation of twelve Tory peers.
- c. 1835, William Hamilton, “Metaphysics and Moral Science”, in Edinburgh Review:
- Having swamped himself in following the ignis fatuus of a theory […]
Derived terms
Translations
overwhelm
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References
- “swamp”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
- Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.
- van der Sijs, Nicoline, editor (2010), “zomp2”, in Etymologiebank, Meertens Institute
- “swamp”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
Anagrams
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