Nominal Forms
Infinitive: to whelm
Participle: whelmed
Gerund: whelming
Indicative
Present
| I | whelm |
| you | whelm |
| he;she;it | whelms |
| we | whelm |
| you | whelm |
| they | whelm |
Perfect
| I | have whelmed |
| you | have whelmed |
| he;she;it | has whelmed |
| we | have whelmed |
| you | have whelmed |
| they | have whelmed |
Past
| I | whelmed |
| you | whelmed |
| he;she;it | whelmed |
| we | whelmed |
| you | whelmed |
| they | whelmed |
Pluperfect
| I | had whelmed |
| you | had whelmed |
| he;she;it | had whelmed |
| we | had whelmed |
| you | had whelmed |
| they | had whelmed |
Future
| I | will whelm |
| you | will whelm |
| he;she;it | will whelm |
| we | will whelm |
| you | will whelm |
| they | will whelm |
Future Perfect
| I | will have whelmed |
| you | will have whelmed |
| he;she;it | will have whelmed |
| we | will have whelmed |
| you | will have whelmed |
| they | will have whelmed |
Subjunctive
Present
| I | whelm |
| you | whelm |
| he;she;it | whelm |
| we | whelm |
| you | whelm |
| they | whelm |
Perfect
| I | have whelmed |
| you | have whelmed |
| he;she;it | have whelmed |
| we | have whelmed |
| you | have whelmed |
| they | have whelmed |
Imperfect
| I | whelmed |
| you | whelmed |
| he;she;it | whelmed |
| we | whelmed |
| you | whelmed |
| they | whelmed |
Pluperfect
| I | had whelmed |
| you | had whelmed |
| he;she;it | had whelmed |
| we | had whelmed |
| you | had whelmed |
| they | had whelmed |
Conditional
Present
| I | would whelm |
| you | would whelm |
| he;she;it | would whelm |
| we | would whelm |
| you | would whelm |
| they | would whelm |
Perfect
| I | would have whelmed |
| you | would have whelmed |
| he;she;it | would have whelmed |
| we | would have whelmed |
| you | would have whelmed |
| they | would have whelmed |
Imperative
| you | whelm |
| we | Let's whelm |
| you | whelm |
Verbs conjugated like 'whelm'
abandon,
abduct,
abear,
aberr,
abject,
abord,
abort,
abound,
abraid,
abray,
abrook,
abscind,
abscond,
absist,
absorb,
abstain,
abstract,
accend,
accent,
accept, etc. (List truncated at 20 verbs)
Verbs similar to 'whelm'
helm,
whelp,
behelm,
chelp,
hele,
hell,
help,
hem,
shell,
unhelm,
Additional Information
Phrasal Verbs
Etymology
1. c.1300, probably from a parallel form of O.E.
-hwielfan (W.Saxon),
-hwelfan (Mercian), in
ahwelfan "cover over;" probably altered by association with O.E.
helmian "to cover" (see helmet).
2. From Middle English whelmen (“to turn over, capsize; to invert, turn upside down”), perhaps from Old English *hwealmnian, a variant of *hwealfnian, from hwealf (“arched, concave, vaulted; an arched or vaulted ceiling”), from Proto-West Germanic *hwalb, from Proto-Germanic *hwalbą (“arch, vault”), from Proto-Indo-European *kʷelp- (“to curve”).
3. Cognates
4. The English word is cognate with Dutch welven (“to arch”), Old Saxon bihwelvian (“to cover, hide”), German wölben (“to bend, curve, arch”), Icelandic hvelfa (“to overturn”), German Walm (“a vaulted roof”), Icelandic hvolf (“vaulted ceiling”), Ancient Greek κόλπος (kólpos, “bosom, hollow, gulf”).
5. The noun is derived from the verb. See: Middle English '
whelmen', Dutch '
welven', Old Saxon '
bihwelvian', German, old spelling '
wölben', Icelandic '
hvelfa'.
Verbs referencing "whelm"
Swedish
välva, Danish
hvælve.
Sample Sentences
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Giue fire: ſhe is my prize, or Ocean whelme them all. [c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merry Wiues of Windsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii], page 46, column 1:]
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Still let me walk; for oft' the ſudden Gale / Ruffles the Tide, and ſhifts the dang'rous Sail, / Then ſhall the Paſſenger, too late, deplore / The whelming Billow, and the faithleſs Oar; [...] [[1716], [John] Gay, “Book II. Of Walking the Streets by Day.”, in Trivia: Or, The Art of Walking the Streets of London, London: […] Bernard Lintott, […], →OCLC, page 46:]
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Such is the fate of ſimple Bard, / On Life's rough ocean luckleſs ſtarr'd! / Unſkilful he to note the card / Of prudent Lore, / Till billows rage, and gales blow hard, / And whelm him o'er! [1786, Robert Burns, “To a Mountain-daisy, On Turning One Down, with the Plough, in April—1786”, in Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, volume I, Kilmarnock, Scotland: […] John Wilson, →OCLC; reprinted Kilmarnock, Scotland: […] James M‘Kie, 1867, →OCLC, page 172:]
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Deep-whelm'd beneath, in vast sepulchral caves, / Oblivion dwells amid unlabell'd graves; / The storied tomb, the laurell'd bust o'erturns, / And shakes their ashes from the mould'ring urns. [1803, Erasmus Darwin, “Canto I. Production of Life.”, in The Temple of Nature; or, The Origin of Society: A Poem, with Philosophical Notes, London: Printed for J[oseph] Johnson, […], by T[homas] Bensley, […], →OCLC, section II, page 11, lines 113–116:]
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The envious billows sidelong swell to whelm my track; let them; but first I pass. [1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 37, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 185:]
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Gnats and Flies are very troubleſome in Houſes [...] Balls made of Horſe-dung and laid in a Room will do the ſame [attract gnats and flies] if they are new made; by which means you may whelm ſome things over them and keep them there. [1708, J[ohn] Mortimer, “Of Kites, Hawks, &c.”, in The Whole Art of Husbandry; or, The Way of Managing and Improving of Land. […], 2nd corrected edition, London: Printed by J. H. for H. Mortlock […], and J. Robinson […], →OCLC, book VII, pages 252–253:]
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Here, where a Cæsar stood two thousand years ago, the traveller from another continent (though not from New Zealand) stands to-day, to muse—at Pæstum, as at Pompeii—on the fate which overtakes all human things, and at last whelms man and his works in one undistinguishable ruin. [1877, Henry M[artyn] Field, “Naples.—Pompeii and Pæstum.”, in From the Lakes of Killarney to the Golden Horn, 4th edition, New York, N.Y.: Scribner, Armstrong, and Company, →OCLC, page 281:]
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In the twentieth night of the nine hundredth moon, as night came up the valley, I performed the mystic rites of each of the gods in the temple as is my wont, lest any of the gods should grow angry in the night and whelm us while we slept. [1905, Lord Dunsany [i.e., Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany], The Gods of Pegāna, London: [Charles] Elkin Mathews, […], →OCLC, page 68:]
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Hear Thou our plaint, when light is gone / And lawlessness and strife prevail. / Hear, lest the whelming weight of crime / Wreck us with life in view; / Lest thoughts and schemes of sense and time / Earn us a sinner's due. [1839, [John Henry Newman]; [Frederick Parry Hodges, compiler], “Hymn 71”, in A Selection of Psalms and Hymns as Chaunted and Sung in the Parish Church of Lyme Regis, Dorset, Lyme [Regis], Dorset: Printed, published, and sold only by Daniel Dunster, […], →OCLC, page 175:]