swelter

English

WOTD – 1 September 2010

Alternative forms

sulter (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English swelteren, frequentative form of Middle English swelten (“to die; faint”), from Old English sweltan (“to die”), from Proto-Germanic *sweltaną (“to die”), from Proto-Indo-European *swel- (“to smolder; burn”), equivalent to swelt +‎ -er (frequentative suffix). More at swelt.

Pronunciation

(UK) IPA^(key): /ˈswɛl.tə/
(US) IPA^(key): /ˈswɛl.tɚ/
Audio (US) (file)
Audio (AU) (file)
Rhymes: -ɛltə(ɹ)

Verb

swelter (third-person singular simple present swelters, present participle sweltering, simple past and past participle sweltered)

(intransitive) To suffer terribly from intense heat.
(intransitive) To perspire greatly from heat.
(transitive) To cause to faint, to overpower, as with heat.
- 1796, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Fire, Famine, and Slaughter
  It was so rare a piece of fun
  To see the swelter'd cattle run

Translations

To suffer terribly from intense heat

Esperanto: sufoki
Finnish: läkähtyä (fi)
French: étouffer (fr)
Japanese: 茹だる (udaru)
Middle English: swelten
Russian: изнемогать от зноя (iznemogatʹ ot znoja), (informal) жариться (ru) (žaritʹsja)

To perspire greatly from heat

German: stark schwitzen (de)
Portuguese: suar (pt) em bicas

Noun

swelter (plural swelters)

Intense heat.
The summer swelter did not relent until late in September, most years.

Derived terms

sultry
sweltery, sweltry

Translations

intense heat

Azerbaijani: bürkü (az)
Bulgarian: жега (bg) f (žega), зной (bg) m (znoj)
Catalan: xafogor (ca) f
Finnish: helle (fi)
French: canicule (fr) f
German: Hitzewelle (de) f
Latvian: svelme
Russian: жара́ (ru) f (žará), зной (ru) m (znoj)
Spanish: bochorno (es), flama (es)

Anagrams

Lewters, Welters, welters, wrestle