28 January 2018
swelter
[swel-ter]
verb (used without object)
1. to suffer from oppressive heat.
verb (used with object)
2. to oppress with heat.
3. Archaic. to exude, as venom.
noun
4. a sweltering condition.
Origin of swelter
late Middle English
1375-1425; late Middle English swelt(e)ren (v.), equivalent to swelt(en) to be overcome with heat ( Old English sweltan to die; cognate with Old Norse svelta, Gothic swiltan) + -eren -er6
Related forms
unsweltered, adjective
Examples from the Web for swelter
Contemporary Examples
There no longer is anywhere to hide from the swelter and welter of the American id.
Drug-Resistant Gonorrhea, the ‘Sex Superbug,’ Is Not Worse Than AIDS
Kent Sepkowitz
May 7, 2013
Historical Examples
The beat of the sun from above and the swelter of dust from below were overpowering.
The Great Boer War
Arthur Conan Doyle
The city, hot as an oven, seemed to swelter in the stifling night.
The Works of Guy de Maupassant, Vol. 6
Guy de Maupassant
“But in hot weather like this it must make you swelter,” continued Elmer.
Endurance Test
Alan Douglas
How far away now seems the welter and swelter of the city, the hectic sophistication of the streets.
Ballads of a Bohemian
Robert W. Service
The poor children have to swelter in knitted socks, knitted hoods, and knitted sweaters, just because they come from America.
The Spell of the Hawaiian Islands and the Philippines
Isabel Anderson
Then there is hot weather, perhaps up in the eighties, and Californians grumble, swelter and rustle for summer clothes.
Complete Story of the San Francisco Horror
Richard Linthicum
She knew as a child what it was to live amidst storms of babies, in the heat and swelter of fecundity.
The Rainbow
D. H. (David Herbert) Lawrence
How the crowded chickadee babies must swelter in their bed of fur and feathers tucked inside a close, stuffy hole!
Birds Every Child Should Know
Neltje Blanchan
He hadn’t much missed her in the swelter of the new passion, but after ten days passed he began to worry.
Painted Veils
James Huneker
Anagram
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Today’s quote
Talent perceives differences; genius, unity.
– William Butler Yeats
On this day
28 January 1853 – birth of José Julián Martí Pérez, (José Martí), Cuban national hero, nicknamed The Maestro. He was a poet, essayist, revolutionary philosopher. Fought for Cuba’s independence from Spain. Martí’s poetry is respected across the globe. One of his poems was adapted into the song, Guantanamera. Died 19 May 1895.
28 January 1968 – 4 hydrogen bombs are lost when the B-52 bomber that was carrying them, crashes near Thule, Greenland. The bombs are eventually located, but it took nine months to clear the area of radiation.
28 January 1939 – death of William Butler Yeats (W.B. Yeats), Irish poet, Nobel Prize laureate. One of the foremost literary figures of the 20th century. He served as an Irish senator for two terms. He led the Irish Literary Revival. In 1921 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for ‘inspired poetry, which in a highly artistic form gives expression to the spirit of a whole nation‘. Born 13 June 1865.
28 January 1986 – the space shuttle, Challenger, explodes moments after lift-off, killing all seven astronauts on board, including Christa MacAuliffe, a teacher from New Hampshire, who was scheduled to deliver a lesson from outer-space as part of the ‘Teacher in Space’ project.