Definition of SWAMP

swamp

Plural: swamps

Noun

  • low land that is seasonally flooded; has more woody plants than a marsh and better drainage than a bog
  • a situation fraught with difficulties and imponderables
    • "he was trapped in a medical swamp"
  • 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.)
  • A place or situation that is foul or where progress is difficult.
  • The alleged corruption, cronyism, inefficiency, and entrenched interests in the federal government, especially in Washington, DC.

Verb

Verb Forms: swamped, swamping, swamps

  • To overwhelm with an excessive amount of something; to inundate.
  • drench or submerge or be drenched or submerged
    • "The tsunami swamped every boat in the harbor"
  • fill quickly beyond capacity; as with a liquid
  • To drench or fill with water.
  • To overwhelm; to make too busy, or overrun the capacity of.
  • To plunge into difficulties and perils; to overwhelm; to ruin; to wreck.
  • To clear (a road or an area) of brush, particularly so as to create a path for loggers to be able to access trees.

Examples

  • His opponent tried to swamp the board with low-scoring words, hoping to block.
  • I have been swamped with paperwork ever since they started using the new system.
  • The boat was swamped in the storm.

Origin / Etymology

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.

Scrabble Score: 12

swamp: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
swamp: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
swamp: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 14

swamp: valid Words With Friends Word