SWARM • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Swarm

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/swɔrm/ Listen

noun

Swarm n.

1.

A large number or mass of small animals or insects, especially when in motion. "A deadly swarm of hornets."

2.

Especially, a great number of honeybees which emigrate from a hive at once, and seek new lodgings under the direction of a queen; a like body of bees settled permanently in a hive. "A swarm of bees."

3.

Hence, any great number or multitude, as of people in motion, or sometimes of inanimate objects; as, a swarm of meteorites. "Those prodigious swarms that had settled themselves in every part of it (Italy)."

Synonyms: Multitude; crowd; throng.

verb

Swarm v. t. To crowd or throng.

Swarm v. i. To climb a tree, pole, or the like, by embracing it with the arms and legs alternately. See Shin. (Colloq.) "At the top was placed a piece of money, as a prize for those who could swarm up and seize it."

Swarm v. i. (past & past part. swarmed; pres. part. swarming)

1.

To collect, and depart from a hive by flight in a body; said of bees; as, bees swarm in warm, clear days in summer.

2.

To appear or collect in a crowd; to throng together; to congregate in a multitude.

3.

To be crowded; to be thronged with a multitude of beings in motion. "Every place swarms with soldiers."

4.

To abound; to be filled (with).

5.

To breed multitudes. "Not so thick swarmed once the soil Bedropped with blood of Gorgon."

See images of 'Swarm'

Etymology of 'Swarm'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Swarm" Quotes from Famous Books

... vegetable couch in fear of being thrown to the ground by one of the waggon's jolts, and his eyes were fixed on the two long lines of gas lamps which stretched away in front of him till they mingled with a swarm of other lights in the distance atop of the slope. Far away on the horizon floated a spreading, whitish vapour, showing where Paris slept amidst the luminous haze of all ...

— The Fat and the Thin • Emile Zola

... about fifty yards away and threw a shower of dirt over us. There was a precipitate flop, a falling backwards and forwards and all became messed up in an intricate jumble of flesh, equipment, clothing and rifles in the bottom of the trench. A swarm of "bees" buzzed overhead, a few dropped into the trench and Pryor who gripped one with his hand swore under his breath. The splinter ...

— The Red Horizon • Patrick MacGill

... on which any man may without reproach employ his meditations: the innumerable occupations, among which the thousands that swarm in the streets of London, are distributed, may furnish employment to minds of every cast, and capacities of every degree. He that contemplates the extent of this wonderful city, finds it difficult to ...

— The Works of Samuel Johnson in Nine Volumes - Volume IV: The Adventurer; The Idler • Samuel Johnson

... the milk. It seemed impossible to keep meat sweet. Jimmy lost interest in the gathering of firewood and the carrying of water; and as a result, the waterbutts first shrank, then leaked, and finally lay down, a medley of planks and iron hoops. A swarm of grasshoppers passed through the homestead, and to use Sam's explicit English: "Vegetable bin finissem all about"; and by the time fresh seeds were springing the Wet returned with renewed vigour, and flooded out the garden. Then stores began to ...

— We of the Never-Never • Jeanie "Mrs. Aeneas" Gunn

... fairy, in a bright brick- red gown, were to rise in the midst of the red bricks, and to tap the heap of them with her wand, and say, "Bricks, bricks, to your places!" and then you saw in an instant the whole heap rise in the air, like a swarm of red bees, and—you have been used to see bees make a honeycomb, and to think that strange enough, but now you would see the honeycomb make itself!—You want to ask something, Florrie, by the look ...

— The Ethics of the Dust • John Ruskin

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