Noun: swarm
| Singular | swarm |
| Plural | swarms |
Sample Sentences
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[…] reſtleſs thoughts, that like a deadly ſwarm / Of Hornets arm'd […] ruſh upon me thronging, [1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […].”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, page 10, lines 19–21:]
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a swarm of meteorites
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those prodigious swarms that had settled themselves in every part of it [Italy] [1705, J[oseph] Addison, Remarks on Several Parts of Italy, &c. in the Years 1701, 1702, 1703, London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:]
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Earthquakes were another concern, particularly after swarms were felt in Oklahoma. [2020, Daniel Yergin, The New Map, Penguin, published 2021, page 28:]
Nouns inflected like swarm
soldier's woundwort,
Nicosian,
whopper,
greypate,
tactile sign language,
chronotrope,
Rosie Lee,
dissentient,
photoinactivator,
sulphonediimine,
coastal waterfall,
residuary devise,
bituminization,
nitrosonaphthol,
smṛiti,
geosphere,
backscreen,
mensuralist,
flocculate,
flocculant, etc. (List truncated at 20 nouns)
Etymology
1. From Middle English swarm, from Old English swearm (“swarm, multitude”), from Proto-West Germanic *swarm, from Proto-Germanic *swarmaz (“swarm, dizziness”), from Proto-Indo-European *swer- (“to buzz, hum”).
2. 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”).
3. The verb is from Middle English swarmen, swermen, from Old English swirman (“to swarm”), from Proto-West Germanic *swarmijan, from Proto-Germanic *swarmijaną (“to swarm”), from the noun. Cognate with Scots swairm, swerm (“to swarm”), Dutch zwermen, German schwärmen, Danish sværme, Swedish svärma. See: Middle English Nouns '
swarm', Old English Nouns '
swearm', Dutch Nouns '
zwerm', German Nouns '
Schwarm', Danish Nouns '
sværm', Swedish Nouns '
svärm', Icelandic Nouns '
svarmur', Latin Nouns '
susurrus', Old English Nouns '
swirman'.
Verbs referencing "swarm"
English Nouns
swirl, German Nouns
Schwarm, Dutch Nouns
zwerm.