noun
Meaning 1
A surge of water.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: also, figuratively, poetic
Examples
- the whelm of the tide
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
whelm
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
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
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General-American, Received-Pronunciation: whĕlm
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General-American, Received-Pronunciation: wĕlm
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General-American, Received-Pronunciation: /ʍɛlm/
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General-American, Received-Pronunciation: /wɛlm/
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General-American: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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rhymes with -ɛlm
noun
Meaning 2
A wooden drainpipe, a hollowed out tree trunk, turned with the cavity downwards to form an arched watercourse.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 3
To bury, to cover; to engulf, to submerge.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: archaic, transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: overwhelm, whemmel
Antonyms: unwhelm
verb
Meaning 4
To throw (something) over a thing so as to cover it.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete, transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: whemmel
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 5
To ruin or destroy.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete, transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 6
To overcome with emotion; to overwhelm.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: archaic, intransitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 7
To emotionally affect at an intensity in between underwhelm and overwhelm.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: colloquial, transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 8
overcome, as with emotions or perceptual stimuli
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: overwhelm, overpower, sweep over, overcome, overtake
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: arouse, elicit, enkindle, kindle, evoke, fire, raise, provoke
Narrower terms: devastate, seize, clutch, get hold of, kill, benight, knock out, stagger, lock
History
Etymology
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”). Cognates 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”). The noun is derived from the verb.
Across languages
Translations
36 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Hebrew: נַחְשׁוֹל (nakhshol) — (poetic, also figuratively) surge of water
- Hungarian: ár — (poetic, also figuratively) surge of water
- Hungarian: áradat — (poetic, also figuratively) surge of water
- Hungarian: hullám — (poetic, also figuratively) surge of water
- Hungarian: árhullám — (poetic, also figuratively) surge of water
- Hungarian: özön — (poetic, also figuratively) surge of water
- Bulgarian: заливам (zalivam) — to bury, cover; to engulf, submerge
- Bulgarian: поглъщам (poglǎštam) — to bury, cover; to engulf, submerge
- Chinese Mandarin: 壓倒 /压倒 (yādǎo) — to bury, cover; to engulf, submerge
- Chinese Mandarin: 淹沒 /淹没 (yānmò) — to bury, cover; to engulf, submerge
- Czech: zaplavit — to bury, cover; to engulf, submerge
- Czech: zavalit — to bury, cover; to engulf, submerge
- Czech: pohltit — to bury, cover; to engulf, submerge
- Czech: zcela pokrýt — to bury, cover; to engulf, submerge
- French: submerger — to bury, cover; to engulf, submerge
- Haitian Creole: sitèlman chaj — to bury, cover; to engulf, submerge
- Hungarian: elnyel — to bury, cover; to engulf, submerge
- Hungarian: eláraszt — to bury, cover; to engulf, submerge
- Hungarian: elborít — to bury, cover; to engulf, submerge
- Hungarian: elönt — to bury, cover; to engulf, submerge
- Italian: ingolfare — to bury, cover; to engulf, submerge
- Italian: impantanarsi — to bury, cover; to engulf, submerge
- Italian: immergersi — to bury, cover; to engulf, submerge
- Italian: infognarsi — to bury, cover; to engulf, submerge
- Italian: sopraffare — to bury, cover; to engulf, submerge
- Italian: seppellire — to bury, cover; to engulf, submerge
- Polish: otoczyć — to bury, cover; to engulf, submerge
- Czech: zahltit — to overcome with emotion
- Czech: pohltit — to overcome with emotion
- Czech: ohromit — to overcome with emotion
- Czech: přemoci — to overcome with emotion
- French: submerger — to overcome with emotion
- Hungarian: elborít — to overcome with emotion
- Hungarian: elönt — to overcome with emotion
- Italian: essere sopraffatto — to overcome with emotion
- Polish: ogarnąć — to overcome with emotion