# swallow

Pronunciation: US say "SWAH-loh" /ˈswɑ.loʊ/; UK say "SWOL-oh" /ˈswɒl.əʊ/

## Verb

1. To cause food, drink, or another substance to pass from the mouth through the throat into the stomach; also, to make this throat movement without food, often as a sign of nervousness or strong emotion.
   - Simple: To make food or drink go down your throat into your stomach. Also, to move your throat this way when nervous.
   - _She swallowed the last of her coffee and grabbed her coat._
   - _Chew your food properly before you swallow it._
3. To take something in, use it up, or absorb it so completely that it disappears or no longer exists separately; often with up, as when a larger body takes over a smaller one.
   - Simple: To take in or use up something completely so it disappears or becomes part of something bigger, often with 'up'.
   - _Long commutes swallow two hours of her day._
   - _The jungle had swallowed the old road within a decade._
4. To accept a claim credulously and without challenge; to believe.
   - Simple: To believe something without asking any questions.
   - _Most newspapers swallowed whole the railway's estimate of the cost._
   - _Voters swallow a tale like that because they want to, not because it holds up._
6. To endure something quietly, holding back from retaliation.
   - Simple: To put up with something unpleasant without fighting back.
   - _The junior partner swallowed the affront rather than lose the account._
   - _Some criticisms you simply swallow and move on._
7. To take back something one has said or promised; to retract or recant it.
   - Simple: To take back what you said or promised.
   - _After calling the plan a disaster, the mayor had to swallow his words when it worked._
   - _She swore she would never move back home, but a year later she swallowed those words._

## Noun

2. A small migratory bird of the family Hirundinidae, with long, pointed, crescent-shaped wings and a forked tail, that feeds on insects caught in flight.
   - Simple: A small bird with long pointed wings and a forked tail that catches insects while flying.
   - _The first swallow of spring skimmed the pond at dusk._
   - _Swallows gather on the wires in September before the long flight to Africa._
5. An instance of moving something from the mouth down the throat, or the amount moved in this way at one time.
   - Simple: One gulp, or the act of swallowing.
   - _After a long swallow from his canteen, the hiker felt ready to keep climbing._
   - _A hard swallow was the only sign of what the news cost him._
8. In Nigerian English, any of various starchy dishes eaten in lumps with soup and swallowed without much chewing. *(Nigeria)*
   - Simple: In Nigeria, a soft, filling food, such as pounded yam, that you swallow in lumps with soup.
   - _The restaurant offers three kinds of swallow: eba, fufu, and pounded yam._
   - _A bowl of okra soup with swallow is a full meal._

## Noun

9. The mouth and throat; the gullet, archaic. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: In old use, the throat.
10. A deep chasm or abyss in the earth, archaic. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: In old use, a deep hole in the ground.

## Other meanings

- (noun) In nautical use, the opening in a pulley block between the sheave and the shell through which the rope passes.

## Origin

**Meanings 1, 3–10** — The verb comes from Middle English swolowen and Old English swelgan ("to swallow, devour"), from Proto-Germanic *swelganą and perhaps ultimately Proto-Indo-European *swelk- ("to gulp"). It is related to Dutch zwelgen, German schwelgen, and Swedish svälja. The noun comes from Old English swelh or swelg ("gulf, chasm") and ġeswelge ("whirlpool"), related to Old Norse svelgr ("whirlpool").
**Meaning 2** — This word, meaning the bird, comes from Middle English swalwe and Old English swealwe, from Proto-Germanic *swalwǭ. It is related to Dutch zwaluw, German Schwalbe, and Swedish svala.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/swallow (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).