Standard Lemma guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
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noun
An area of wet (water-saturated), spongy (soft) land, often with trees, generally a rich ecosystem for certain plants and animals but ill-suited for many agricultural purposes. (A type of wetland. Compare marsh, bog, fen.)
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A place or situation that is foul or where progress is difficult.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: figuratively
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
The alleged corruption, cronyism, inefficiency, and entrenched interests in the federal government, especially in Washington, DC.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: US
Topics: government, politics
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To drench or fill with water.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To overwhelm; to make too busy, or overrun the capacity of.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: figuratively
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To plunge into difficulties and perils; to overwhelm; to ruin; to wreck.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: figuratively
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To clear (a road or an area) of brush, particularly so as to create a path for loggers to be able to access trees.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: Appalachia
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
low land that is seasonally flooded; has more woody plants than a marsh and better drainage than a bog
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: swampland
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: wetland
Narrower terms: slough, Everglades, Okefenokee Swamp
noun
a situation fraught with difficulties and imponderables
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: situation
verb
fill quickly beyond capacity; as with a liquid
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Synonyms: deluge, flood, inundate
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: fill, fill up, make full
verb
drench or submerge or be drenched or submerged
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Synonyms: drench
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: flood
History
Early attestations (starting in 1624) are from North America, but the term was probably in local use in Britain earlier. The etymology is not entirely certain; it is probably a fusion of Middle English swam (“swamp, muddy pool, bog, marsh”, also “fungus, mushroom”) — from Old English swamm (“mushroom, fungus, sponge”), from Proto-West Germanic *swamm, from Proto-Germanic *swambaz, *swammaz — and Middle English sompe (“marsh, morass”), from either Middle Dutch somp, sump (“marsh, swamp”) or Middle Low German sump (“marsh, swamp”) (from Old Saxon *sump (“swamp, marsh”)), both from Proto-West Germanic *sump, from Proto-Germanic *sumpaz. *Swambaz, *swammaz and *sumpaz are likely related to each other, but it is unclear whether they are of Indo-European origin or are substrate words or wanderworts. The word has alternatively been suggested to be a borrowing from Dutch zwamp (“swamp, marsh, fen”). Other cognates include Middle Low German swamp (“sponge, mushroom”), Dutch zomp (“swamp, lake, marshy place”), German Low German Sump (“swamp, bog, marsh”), German Sumpf (“swamp”), Swedish sump (“swamp”). Related also to Dutch zwam (“fungus, punk, tinder”), German Schwamm (“mushroom, fungus, sponge”), Swedish svamp (“mushroom, fungus, sponge”), Icelandic svampur, sveppur (“fungus”), Gothic 𐍃𐍅𐌿𐌼𐍃𐌻 (swumsl, “a ditch”). Related to sump, swim.
Across languages
278 source translations are retained for this English entry.
