swarm
Plural: swarms
Noun
- a moving crowd
- a group of many things in the air or on the ground
- "a swarm of insects obscured the light"
- A large number of insects, especially when in motion or (for bees) migrating to a new colony.
- A mass of people, animals or things in motion or turmoil.
- A group of nodes sharing the same torrent in a BitTorrent network.
- A number of small earthquakes (or other seismic events) occurring, with no clear cause, in a specific area within a relatively short space of time.
Verb
Verb Forms: swarmed, swarming, swarms
- To move or gather in large numbers.
- be teeming, be abuzz
- "The garden was swarming with bees"
- move in large numbers
- To move as a swarm.
- To teem, or be overrun with insects, people, etc.
- To fill a place as a swarm.
- To overwhelm as by an opposing army.
- To climb by gripping with arms and legs alternately.
- To breed multitudes.
Examples
- The bees SWARM towards the hive, much like letters SWARM to make a bingo.
Origin / Etymology
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”).
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”).
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.
Scrabble Score: 10
swarm: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordswarm: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
swarm: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary