swarm

swarm

English

Etymology

From Middle English swarm, from Old English swearm (“swarm, multitude”), from Proto-Germanic *swarmaz (“swarm, dizziness”), from Proto-Indo-European *swer- (“to buzz, hum”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Swoorm (“swarm”), Dutch zwerm, German Schwarm, Danish sværm, Swedish svärm, Icelandic svarmur (“tumult, swarm”), Latin susurrus (“whispering, humming”), Lithuanian surma (“a pipe”), Russian свире́ль (svirélʹ, “a pipe, reed”).

The verb is from Middle English swarmen, swermen, from Old English swierman (“to swarm”), from Proto-Germanic *swarmijaną (“to swarm”), from the noun. Cognate with Scots swairm, swerm (“to swarm”), Dutch zwermen, German schwärmen, Danish sværme, Swedish svärma.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /swɔɹm/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /swɔːm/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)m

Noun

swarm of locusts.

swarm (plural swarms)

1. A large number of insects, especially when in motion or (for bees) migrating to a new colony.
   • 1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […]”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J. M[acock] for John Starkey […], OCLC 228732398, lines 19–21, page 10:

     […] reſtleſs thoughts, that like a deadly ſwarm / Of Hornets arm'd […] ruſh upon me thronging,

2. A mass of people, animals or things in motion or turmoil.

   a swarm of meteorites

   • 1705, J[oseph] Addison, Remarks on Several Parts of Italy, &c. in the Years 1701, 1702, 1703, London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], OCLC 1051505315:

     those prodigious swarms that had settled themselves in every part of it [Italy]

3. (computing) A group of nodes sharing the same torrent in a BitTorrent network.

Derived terms

• aswarm

Translations

large number of insects

Albanian: shemë Afrikaans: swerm Arabic: ثَوْل‎ (ṯawl) Armenian: պարս (hy) (pars) Belarusian: рой m (roj) Bulgarian: рой (bg) m (roj), рояк (bg) m (rojak) Catalan: eixam (ca) m Chinese: Mandarin: 群 (zh) (qún) Czech: roj (cs) m Danish: sværm (da) c Dutch: zwerm (nl) Finnish: parvi (fi) Franco-Provençal: èssem m French: essaim (fr) m (flying insects), grouillement (fr) m (crawling insects) Friulian: scuam m Galician: enxame (gl) m Georgian: ნაყარი (naq̇ari) German: Schwarm (de) m Greek: σμήνος (el) n (smínos) Ancient: σμῆνος n (smênos), ἑσμός m (hesmós) Hebrew: נְחִיל‎ (he) m (neḥíl) Hungarian: raj (hu) Hunsrik: Schwaarem m Ido: esamo (io) Irish: saithe f, scaoth f Italian: sciame (it) m, nugolo (it) m Japanese: 群れ (ja) (むれ, mure), 雲霞 (ja) (うんか, unka) Latin: exāmen n Latvian: please add this translation if you can Lithuanian: please add this translation if you can Luxembourgish: please add this translation if you can Macedonian: рој m (roj) Maori: pōī Norwegian: Bokmål: sverm (no) m, bisverm m Nynorsk: sverm m, bisverm m Occitan: eissam (oc) m Plautdietsch: Schwoarm n Polish: rój (pl) m Portuguese: enxame (pt) m, nuvem (pt) f (in flight), correição (pt) f (especially ants) Romanian: roi (ro) Russian: рой (ru) m (roj) Sardinian: schissura f Scottish Gaelic: sgaoth m Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: рој m Roman: roj (sh) m Sicilian: sciamu (scn) m, assamu (scn) m Slovak: roj m Slovene: roj (sl) m Sorbian: Lower Sorbian: roj m Spanish: enjambre (es), nube (es) f Swahili: jana (sw) Swedish: svärm (sv) c Turkish: please add this translation if you can Ukrainian: рій m (rij) Venetian: same m, samo m Vilamovian: please add this translation if you can Volapük: (bees) kümam (vo) Welsh: haid f Yiddish: please add this translation if you can

a mass of people or animals in turmoil

Bulgarian: стадо (bg) n (stado) Czech: dav (cs) m, hejno (cs) n, houf (cs) m, zástup (cs) m Danish: sværm (da) c Dutch: menigte (nl), massa (nl) Finnish: lauma (fi) French: nuée (fr) f, essaim (fr) m Galician: liorna (gl) f, barafunda (gl) f German: Schwarm (de) m Greek: στίφος (el) n (stífos), εσμός (el) m (esmós), (people) όχλος (el) m (óchlos) Hungarian: horda (hu), sokaság (hu) Japanese: 群衆 (ja) (ぐんしゅう, gunshū) Polish: mrowie (pl) n Portuguese: multidão (pt) f, enxame (pt) m, turba (pt) f, turbamulta (pt) f, turbilhão (pt) m, tropel (pt) m, roda-viva f, barafunda (pt) f Russian: (people) толпа́ (ru) f (tolpá), (birds) ста́я (ru) f (stája) Scottish Gaelic: (animals) sgaoth m, (people) sluagh m Spanish: multitud (es), muchedumbre (es), masa (es), aglomeración (es), barahúnda (es) f Swahili: jana (sw) Swedish: myller (sv) n, vimmel (sv) Tamil: திரள் (ta) (tiraḷ) Ukrainian: на́товп m (nátovp), юрба́ (uk) f (jurbá)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Albanian: (please verify) luzmë (sq) f Georgian: (please verify) ჯგუფი (ǯgupi) Italian: (please verify) sciame (it) m Mandarin: (please verify) 云集 (zh) (yúnjí), (please verify) 蜂拥 (zh) (fēngyōng), (please verify) 成群移动 (chéng qún yídòng), (please verify) (昆虫)群 (kūnchóng qún) Romanian: (please verify) roi (ro), (please verify) stol (ro) n Serbo-Croatian: (please verify) roj (sh) m

Verb

swarm (third-person singular simple present swarms, present participle swarming, simple past and past participle swarmed)

1. (intransitive) To move as a swarm.
   • 1915, G[eorge] A. Birmingham [pseudonym; James Owen Hannay], chapter I, in Gossamer, New York, N.Y.: George H. Doran Company, OCLC 5661828:

     There is an hour or two, after the passengers have embarked, which is disquieting and fussy. Mail bags, so I understand, are being put on board. Stewards, carrying cabin trunks, swarm in the corridors.

2. (intransitive) To teem, or be overrun with insects, people, etc.
   • 1596 (date written; published 1633)​, Edmund Spenser, A Vewe of the Present State of Irelande […], Dublin: […] Societie of Stationers, […], OCLC 606546850; republished as A View of the State of Ireland […] (Ancient Irish Histories), Dublin: […] Society of Stationers, […] Hibernia Press, […] [b]y John Morrison, 1809, OCLC 22906028:

     Every place swarming with soldiers.

3. (transitive) To fill a place as a swarm.
4. (transitive) To overwhelm as by an opposing army.
   • 2019 March 6, Drachinifel, The Battle of Samar (Alternate History) - Bring on the Battleships!‎, archived from the original on 20 July 2022, retrieved 19 November 2022, 37:59 from the start:

     So, yeah. The overall conclusion of the big gunfight being that, if Yamato is able to tackle the Colorados early, then the Japanese probably have a, maybe a sixty-to-sixty-five-percent chance of pulling this off... although you say "pulling it off", it's more a case of "the Japanese are the last battleship standing"; they tend to then just get swarmed by angry Fletchers […]

5. To climb by gripping with arms and legs alternately.
   • 1784, William Coxe, Travels into Poland, Russia, Sweden and Denmark

     At the top was placed a piece of money, as a prize for those who could swarm up and seize it.

   • 1919, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, “chapter 55”, in The Moon and Sixpence, [New York, N.Y.]: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers […], OCLC 365836:

     She called out, and a boy came running along. He swarmed up a tree, and presently threw down a ripe nut. Ata pierced a hole in it, and the doctor took a long, refreshing draught.

6. To breed multitudes.
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], OCLC 228722708; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554, lines 526–527:

     Not ſo thick ſwarm'd once the Soil / Bedropt with blood of Gorgon,

Translations

to move as a swarm

Armenian: վխտալ (hy) (vxtal) Catalan: eixamenar-se Czech: hemžit se, rojit se impf Finnish: vyöryä French: essaimer (fr) (bees only) Hungarian: rajzik (hu) Italian: pullulare (it), sciamare (it) Latin: exāminō Occitan: essaimar Portuguese: enxamear (pt) Russian: кишеть (ru) impf (kišetʹ), роиться (ru) (roitʹsja) (for bees) Slovene: rojiti (sl) Spanish: enjambrar (es) Walloon: samer (wa) (bees only)

to teem, or be overrun with insects

Armenian: վխտալ (hy) (vxtal) Bulgarian: гъмжа (bg) (gǎmža) Czech: hemžit se, být plný Dutch: zwermen (nl) Hungarian: hemzseg (hu) Italian: pullulare (it) Low German: German Low German: swarmen Maori: rearea, ngahua, ngahue, pōhūhū, tāmuimui, pūrau Portuguese: fervilhar (pt), pulular (pt) Russian: кише́ть (ru) impf (kišétʹ) Slovene: rojiti (sl) Ukrainian: киші́ти (kyšíty)

to fill a place as a swarm

Armenian: վխտալ (hy) (vxtal) Finnish: vyöryä sisään Hungarian: elözönöl Maori: ngahua, ngahue, rearea Portuguese: infestar (pt) Russian: кишеть (ru) impf (kišetʹ) Spanish: atestar (es), infestar (es)

to overwhelm

Finnish: vyöryttää

to climb by gripping with arms and legs

Czech: šplhat (cs) impf Finnish: kiivetä nelinkontin Hungarian: mászik (hu) Russian: кара́бкаться (ru) n or impf (karábkatʹsja)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

French: (please verify) grouiller (fr), (please verify) pulluler (fr) Spanish: (please verify) enjambrar (es)

See also

• Appendix:English collective nouns

Anagrams

• warms

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Middle English

Alternative forms

• swrame, swarme

Etymology

From Old English swearm, from Proto-Germanic *swarmaz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /swarm/, /swɛrm/

Noun

swarm (plural swarmes)

1. A swarm (large, moving group of bees)
2. (rare) A large group of people.

Derived terms

• swarmen

Descendants

• English: swarm
• Scots: swairm

References

• “swarm, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-11-24.