| 释义 |
▪ I. swamp, n.|swɒmp|
Also 8 swomp.
[First recorded as a term peculiar to the N. American colony of Virginia, but prob. in local use before in England; cf. quot. 1691 in 1 b, and the app. related sump n.
Possibly taken in from LG., where, however, the sense of ‘marsh’ is not recorded (but cf. LG. swampen, used of the quaking of boggy land). The instance of the meaning ‘mushroom’ (sense 2), which was that of OE. swamm, may be due to an occasional borrowing from a foreign source.
Usually referred to the root which is the base of the several Germanic formations *swamp-, *swamb-, and *swamm-, with the meaning ‘sponge’ or ‘fungus’, represented by MLG. (LG.) swamp, OHG. (MHG.) swamp, swamb-, ON. svǫppr (:—*swampuz), MSw. svamper, Sw., Da. svamp, and OE. swamm, (M)LG., OHG. swam (G. schwamm), early mod.Du. swamme (Du. zwam), Goth. swamm acc. sing. The radical notion is perhaps preserved in Gr. σοµϕός (?:—*swombhós) spongy, porous.
For other possible relations see swamp a. and swang.]
1. a. A tract of low-lying ground in which water collects; a piece of wet spongy ground; a marsh or bog. Orig. and in early use only in the N. American colonies, where it denoted a tract of rich soil having a growth of trees and other vegetation, but too moist for cultivation (see quots. 1741, 1766, 1875).
1624Capt. J. Smith Virginia iv. 163 Some small Marshes and Swamps there are, but more profitable than hurtfull. 1685Penn Further Acc. Pennsylv. 7 Our Swamps or Marshes yeeld us course Hay for the Winter. 1688Clayton Virginia in Phil. Trans. XVIII. 124 [Musk-rats] build Houses as Beavers do, in the Marshes, and Swamps (as they there call them) by the Water-sides. 1741P. Tailfer, etc. Narr. Georgia 96 A Swamp is any low watery Place, which is covered with Trees or Canes: They are here of three Sorts, Cypress, River, and Cane Swamps. 1766Stork Acc. E. Florida 26 note, The word swamp is peculiar to America; it there signifies a tract of land that is sound and good, but by lying low is covered by water. All the forest trees (pine excepted) thrive best in the swamps, where the soil is always rich. 1875Temple & Sheldon Hist. Northfield, Mass. 21 Swamps.—As used by our fathers in the earliest times, this term did not necessarily denote marshy ground; but flat land which from its peculiar location had escaped the ravages of the annual fires set by the Indians, and was covered with an old growth of wood.
1725De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 145 Our men..shot a brace of deer, as they were feeding by the side of a swamp or moist ground. 1840Thirlwall Greece liii. VII. 20 Ground which the rain had turned into a swamp. 1853J. H. Newman Hist. Sk. (1873) II. i. iii. 125 The Pontine Marshes, formerly the abode of thirty nations, are now a pestilential swamp. 1880Haughton Phys. Geog. v. 235 The river Desaguadero..falls into the salt lake and swamps of Aullagas.
fig.1825Lamb Elia Ser. ii. Convalescent, In this flat swamp of convalescence, left by the ebb of sickness. 1871Morley Carlyle in Crit. Misc. Ser. i. (1878) 173 It has stagnated in the sunless swamps of a theosophy.
b. local. See quots., and cf. sump n. 1, 2. Also, in Australia, a shallow lake or pond.
1691Ray S. & E.C. Words 115 A Swamp, a low hollow place in any part of a field. 1881Raymond Mining Gloss., Swamp, a depression in a nearly horizontal bed, in which water may collect. 1883Gresley Gloss. Coal-mining, Swamp, a depression or natural hollow in a seam.
†2. A mushroom. Obs. rare—1.
1631Widdowes Nat. Philos. 39 In the body of the [larch] tree groweth Fungus Agaricus, a swamp or mush rome.
3. a. attrib. and Comb., as swamp-dweller, swamp earth, swamp forest, swamp-jungle, swamp land, swamp-lover (see c), swamp meadow, swamp muck, swamp mud, swamp peat, swamp region, swamp shell, swamp-side, swamp soil, swamp water; swamp-loving adj.; swamp-angel (see b); swamp buggy N. Amer., a vehicle used in swampy regions; spec. a tracked vehicle which can pull a heavily loaded trailer; swamp-chain, -hook U.S., a long chain, a large hook used in swamping logs; swamp cooler U.S. (see quot. 1950); swamp fever, (a) malarial fever prevalent in swampy regions; (b) a contagious virus disease of horses, causing anæmia, emaciation, and usually death; swamp fire Canad., methane burning in a swampy area; a will-o'-the-wisp (also used in metaphorical comparisons); swamp-ore [G. sumpferz], bog iron ore; swamp plough N.Z., a type of plough with a large mould-board, for use on heavy soils; swamp rock, a type of rock music associated with the Southern U.S.; swamp Yankee U.S. dial. (see quot. 1963).
1941Nat. Geogr. Mag. June 706 Their ‘*swamp-buggy’ is a seagoing amphibious-looking vehicle. Its 10-foot high wheels are equipped with fat, fin-studded oversized tires which act as propellers; when the odd vehicle leaves the land and takes to water, it begins to swim. 1966North July–Aug. 14/2 When the usually dependable swamp buggy breaks down, it's back to the dog team. 1973Globe & Mail (Toronto) 3 Feb. 7/5 While the public sleeps, a Pandora's Box is opening to release a flood of hovercraft, dune buggies, swamp buggies, trail bikes, air sleds and airboats on the long-suffering landscape of crowded Southern Ontario.
1950Newsweek 14 Aug. 51 In dry climates it is possible to rig up a primitive but highly effective cooling system, called a ‘*swamp cooler’. It consists simply of a fan blowing over an excelsior mat which is drenched with dripping water. 1979Tucson (Arizona) Citizen (Weekender Mag.) 28 Apr. 9/1 A swamp cooler has maybe five moving parts; if it quits, you go up on the roof, look to see which part has quit moving, and replace it.
1890*Swamp-dweller [see pine land]. 1908Rider Haggard Ghost Kings xiv. 193 The Swamp-dwellers, who had their homes upon the banks of the Tugela.
1840J. Buel Farmer's Comp. 47 To blend with it [sc. calcareous soil] quantities of peat or *swamp earth.
1870Kingsley At Last xiii, A strong touch of his old *swamp-fever. 1903Rep. Min. Agric. Canada 1902 85 There has been known in the Red River Valley a peculiar and very fatal disease of horses... It is a disease of low lying and swampy country and it is therefore popularly known as swamp fever. 1975Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 6 July 2/3 Swamp fever..equine infectious anemia—has ravaged almost half of..the little ponies.
1903S. E. White Forest 122 Like *swamp-fire, it lured the imagination always on and on and on through the secret waterways of the uninhabited North. 1954V. Lysenko Yellow Boots 146 Behind them the swamp fire, like a gigantic Jack o'lantern, bumped and danced and ran around the sky, then finally, as it reached the ground, evaporated into the night air. 1982H. Lieberman Night Call iii. 12 Daughtry's reputation..traveled like swampfire.
1909Groom & Balfour tr. Warming's Oecol. Plants lx. 234 (heading) Littoral *swamp-forest. Mangrove. 1955P. A. Buxton Nat. Hist. Tsetse Flies ix. 269 In places there are ‘swamp forests’..the trees growing in a few feet of water at all seasons. 1964G. B. Schaller Year of Gorilla (1965) viii. 215 The swamp forest that grows in the low country bordering the South China Sea.
1877Lumberman's Gaz. 22 Dec., *Swamp Hooks, Pevys, Skidding Tongs always on hand.
1902D. G. Hogarth Nearer East 108 Torrential floods, which..support a dense *swamp-jungle.
1662in Connecticut Hist. Soc. Coll. (1912) XIV. 433 One Parcel of land..being *Swamp land. 1701Early Rec. Providence, Rhode Island (1894) V. 125 A Certaine ffarme or tract of land consisting of upland swampe land & Meadow land. 1791W. Bartram Carolina 95 A vast body of rich swamp land, fit for the growth of Rice. 1856Olmsted Slave States ii. 151 The value of the swamp land varies with the wood upon it.
1826Miss Mitford Village Ser. ii. 173 (Visit to Lucy) That *swamp-loving, cold-braving, shade-seeking plant.
1697Cambridge (Mass.) Proprietors' Rec. (1896) 344 Four Rods of fence, Lyeing att the head of Samuel Hastings *Swampmeadow. 1880Harper's Mag. June 80 Out in the swamp meadow the tall clumps of boneset show their dull white crests. 1951R. P. Hobson Grass beyond Mountains 41 We sat around..talking of range cows, and tough trails, slough grass and swamp meadows.
1840J. Buel Farmer's Comp. 73 Peat earth, or *swamp muck, is vegetable food, in an insoluble state.
1821Mass. Spy 21 Feb. 4/5, I agree that *swamp mud or, as the Scotch and English farmers call it, peat moss..is not manure. 1897Gunter Don Balasco of Key West xiii. 160 His costume..is covered with swamp mud and coral dust.
1839Ure Dict. Arts 834 Bog-ore, *swamp-ore, and meadow-ore.
1863Lyell Antiq. Man ii. 9 The lowest stratum..consists of *swamp-peat composed chiefly of moss or sphagnum.
1930L. G. D. Acland Early Canterbury Runs 1st Ser. iii. 42 They..spent a lot of money in cutting the scrub, crushing it down with rollers, and ploughing it in with *swamp ploughs. 1973Massey Ferguson Rev. (N.Z.) Mar.–Apr. 5/1 He..leaves it for two years before getting to work with a 19-inch swamp plough.
1871G. H. Napheys Prev. & Cure Dis. i. i. 51 Exposed to *swamp-poison.
1875tr. von Ziemssen's Cycl. Med. II. 564 The warm *swamp-regions of the Australian coast.
1970Guardian 17 Apr. 10/2 Then Creedence. The band['s]..music, like that of Delaney and Bonnie, is called ‘*swamp rock’, and identified with the Southern States of America.
1855J. Phillips Man. Geol. 409 One *swamp shell, viz., Succinea amphibia.
1677W. Hubbard Narrative (1865) I. 111 They were set upon by many hundreds of the Indians out of the Bushes by the *Swamp-side.
1883Science II. 39/1 Their projection above the level of the roots depending on the depth of the *swamp-waters.
1941H. Kurath Linguistic Atlas of New England II. ii. Map 450 The map shows a great variety of terms, largely derogatory and jocular, applied to a person who lives in the country—specifically to an old farmer who seldom visits the village or city. The following terms were recorded in more than one community: rustic,..*swamp Yankee, hayback, hayseed or hayseeder. 1963Amer. Speech XXXVIII. 121 The term swamp Yankee may be defined as ‘a rural New England dweller who abides today as a steadfast rustic and who is of Yankee stock that has endured in the New England area since the colonial days.’ 1975G. V. Higgins City on Hill iv. 104 That back country's full of swamp Yankees, guys..that impregnate their own daughters.
b. In names of animals (mostly birds) inhabiting swamps, as swamp adder, swamp bee, swamp bird, etc.; swamp-angel (U.S.), a name for the hermit thrush and the wood thrush; also transf. or allusively; swamp blackbird = marsh blackbird (see marsh1 4 b); swamp crake, Ortygometra tabuensis, of Australia; swamp deer, Rucervus duvaucelli, of India; see also barasingha; swamp hare, Lepus aquaticus, of the southern U.S., also called water-rabbit; swamp hen, a name for various rails, esp. of the genus Porphyrio (cf. marsh hen, marsh1 4 b); swamp partridge, the spruce partridge or Canada grouse; swamp pheasant, Centropus phasianus, of Australia; swamp quail, any species of the genus Synœcus, of Australia; swamp rabbit, either of two dark brown rabbits of the south-eastern United States, the cane-cutter, Sylvilagus aquaticus, or the marsh rabbit, S. palustris; cf. swamp hare; swamp robin, the cheewink or ground-robin, Pipilo erythrophthalmus, of N. America; also, = towhee; swamp sparrow, (a) a species of song-sparrow, Melospiza palustris, common in U.S. and Canada; (b) Sphenœacus punctatus of New Zealand, also called fern-bird; swamp wallaby, a large wallaby, Wallabia bicolor, which has reddish or greyish fur with darker markings; swamp warbler, one of several N. American warblers, as Protonotaria citrea and Helmintherus vermivorus.
1893Conan Doyle Sherlock Holmes, Speckled Band 207 It is a *swamp adder!..the deadliest snake in India.
1858H. C. Kimball in Jrnl. Discourses V. 31/2 Angels who would thus visit you are *swamp angels,—they are filthy. 1872Schele de Vere Americanisms 117 The Swamp Angel of General Gillmore, as his monster-gun in the swamps was ironically called. 1884Burroughs Wake-Robin 38 The wood-thrush..is quite a rare bird,..being found in the Middle and Eastern States,..only in the deepest and most remote forests, usually in damp and swampy localities. On this account the people in the Adirondac region call it the ‘Swamp Angel’.
1885H. C. McCook Tenants Old Farm 171, I have heard countrymen call the species of which you speak the *swamp-bee; its scientific name is probably Bombus separatus.
1796Nemnich Polygl.-Lex., *Swamp bird, the yellow-poll warbler, Motacilla aestiva. 1884Seebohm Brit. Birds II. 230 Red-throated Pipit. It is very decidedly a swamp-bird.
1891Cent. Dict., *Swamp-blackbird. 1895Outing (U.S.) XXVII. 75/1 A huge flock of swamp blackbirds covered the ground. a1891W. L. Buller in Cent. Dict. *Swamp-crake.
1874T. C. Jerdon Mammals of India 254 The *Swamp Deer... Horns very large and moderately stout. 1891Cent. Dict., Swamp-deer. 1902T. W. Webber Forests Upper India xxi. 312 A very fine specimen of the big swamp deer or barasingha, with 12-tined horns.
1801Latham Gen. Synopsis Birds Suppl. II. 206 *Swamp finch. Fringilla iliaca.
1891Cent. Dict., *Swamp-hare. 1897Field 6 Feb. 167/3 The swamp, or northern hare, is a big strong animal.
1898Morris Austral English, *Swamp-Hawk, another name for the New Zealand Harrier.
1848J. Gould Birds Australia VI. pl. 70 Porphyrio Bellus,..*Swamp-Hen, Colonists of Western Australia. 1888W. L. Buller Birds N. Zealand II. 81 The Swamp-hen is widely distributed over Tasmania, the greater part of the continent of Australia [etc.].
1874Coues Birds N.W. 394 *Swamp Partridge.
1847*Swamp-pheasant [see pheasant 2]. 1890C. Lumholtz Cannibals 94 Although it is really a cuckoo, the colonists call it the ‘swamp pheasant’, because it has a tail like a pheasant.
1895W. R. Ogilvie-Grant Game-Birds I. 191 The Australian *Swamp-Quail.
1845C. Lyell Second Visit U.S. I. 228, I had heard much of the *swamp-rabbit, which they hunt near the coast in South Carolina and Georgia. 1875Fur, Fin & Feather (ed. 3) 136/1 The ‘swamp rabbit’ inhabits the heavy timbered woodlands and river bottoms. 1938M. K. Rawlings Yearling v. 51 The pair of black swamp rabbits was not new. 1964W. H. Burt Field Guide Mammals (ed. 2) 223 Swamp Rabbit... This is a rich brownish-gray rabbit with coarse hair; feet rusty.
1769R. Smith Jrnl. 18 May in Tour of Four Great Rivers (1906) 41 The lively Note of the *Swamp Robin, the Red Bird and other Birds from the earliest Dawn is entertaining. 1810Wilson Amer. Ornith. II. 36 In Virginia, he [sc. the Towhe Bunting] is called the Bulfinch;..in Pennsylvania, the Chewink, and by others the Swamp Robin. 1955Swamp robin [see joree].
1811Wilson Amer. Ornith. III. 50 The *Swamp Sparrow is five inches and a half long and seven inches and a half in extent. 1888W. L. Buller Birds N. Zealand (ed. 2) II. 255 The melancholy cry of the Fern-bird is so general and persistent that its nickname of ‘Swamp-Sparrow’ is not undeserved.
1896*Swamp wallaby [see brush wallaby s.v. brush n.1 4]. 1970W. D. L. Ride Guide Native Mammals Austral. v. 47 The Swamp Wallaby..is usually placed in a separate genus Wallabia.
1859Thoreau Jrnl. 30 Apr. in Writings (1906) XVIII. 167 This first off-coat warmth just preceding the advent of the *swamp warblers (parti-colored, red-start, etc.) brings them out. 1884Coues N. Amer. Birds 291 Protonotaria, Golden Swamp Warblers.
c. Denoting plants or vegetable products (chiefly of North America) growing in swamps, as swamp grass, swamp plant, etc.; swamp dock, swamp hellebore, swamp hickory, swamp locust-tree, swamp pine, swamp privet, swamp silk-weed (see these words); swamp-apple = honeysuckle-apple (honeysuckle 6); swamp ash, Fraxinus sambucifolia, also called black, ground, hoop, or water ash; swamp azalea = swamp honeysuckle; swamp blackberry, a low-growing, semi-evergreen dewberry, Rubus hispidus, found near water and marshy ground in parts of Canada and northern and central U.S.A.; swamp blueberry, the highbush blueberry, Vaccinium corymbosum, or its fruit; swamp-broom = swamp-oak 2 a (Morris Austral Engl.); swamp-cabbage = skunk-cabbage; also, the cabbage palmetto, Sabal palmetto; swamp-cheese = swamp-apple; swamp-cypress, the genus Chamæcyparis; also, the deciduous cypress, Taxodium distichum; swamp dewberry = swamp blackberry above; swamp dogwood, Cornus alba and C. sericea; also, = swamp sumach; swamp elm, Ulmus racemosa, also called rock elm; swamp gooseberry, Ribes lacustre (Miller Plant-n. 1884); swamp gum, various species of Eucalyptus, of Australia and Tasmania; swamp hickory, the water hickory, Carya aquatica, or the bitternut hickory, C. cordiformis; swamp honeysuckle, (a) Rhododendron viscosum (Azalea viscosa); (b) a honeysuckle of eastern North America, Lonicera oblongifolia, with yellowish flowers and red berries; swamp laurel, (a) the sweetbay magnolia, M. virginiana; (b) formerly, also the pale American laurel, Kalmia polifolia; swamp lily, (a) the American Turk's-cap lily, Lilium superbum; (b) the genus Zephyranthes, of Mexico, S. America, and the W. Indies; (c) the lizard's-tail, Saururus cernuus; (d) Crinum americanum, which bears white flowers and is native to the south-eastern United States; swamp loosestrife, Decodon verticillatus or Nesæa verticillata (Treas. Bot. 1866); swamp-lover, the stud-flower, Helonias bullata; swamp magnolia, (a) = swamp laurel (a); (b) M. grandiflora; swamp mahogany, a gum tree, Eucalyptus robusta , native to coastal regions of eastern Australia; swamp maple, the red maple, Acer rubrum (Miller); also several other species, as the silver maple, A. dasycarpum, the mountain maple, A. spicatum, and the allied Negundo californicum; swamp-moss = bog-moss (bog n.1 3); swamp pea-tree, sensitive joint-vetch, æschynomene hispida; swamp-pink = swamp honeysuckle; swamp rice = Canada rice; swamp rose, Rosa carolina (Treas. Bot. 1866); also, another wild N. Amer. rose, Rosa palustris; swamp sassafras = swamp laurel (a); swamp sumach, the poison sumach, Rhus vernix; swamp tea-tree, species of Melaleuca, of Australia and Tasmania; swamp-weed, Selliera radicans (Miller); swamp willow, the pussy-willow, Salix discolor; swamp-wood, the N. American leather-wood, Dirca palustris. See also swamp-oak.
1846Zoologist IV. 1281 The galls called *swamp-apples. 1847Darlington Amer. Weeds, etc. (1860) 214 The Azalea nudiflora, or wild Honeysuckle, has often a singular transformation of its flowers, the parts of the flower becoming enlarged and fleshy,..These succulent excrescences are much sought after by boys who call them ‘swamp apples’ and ‘swamp cheeses’.
1794W. Clark Jrnl. 15 Sept. in Mississippi Valley Hist. Rev. (1914) I. 437 The face [of the land] is nearly covered with a thick groth of Shrubbery, Brush, some Beech, *Swamp Ash. 1842Z. Thompson Hist. Vermont i. 211 Black ash. Fraxinus sambucifolia..is sometimes called Swamp Ash.
1796Nemnich Polygl.-Lex., *Swamp azalea, Azalea viscosa.
1958G. A. Petrides Field Guide to Trees & Shrubs 365 Swamp Azalea... A medium-sized to tall shrub with leaves glossy above.
1854Thoreau Jrnl. 4 Aug. in Writings (1906) XII. 419 The *swamp blackberry on high land, ripe a day or two. 1903H. L. Keeler Our Northern Shrubs 161 Few trailing plants combine a better effect of flower and foliage than our Swamp blackberry. 1975E. Wigginton Foxfire 3 285 Swamp blackberry is found in thickets in low, wet places.
1860Thoreau Jrnl. 30 Dec. in Writings (1906) XX. 299 Some ten days later comes the high blueberry, or *swamp blueberry, the commonest stout shrub of our swamps. 1917E. S. Bailey Sand Dunes Indiana 154 There is a chance to study all the sides of a small pond, with the shrub zone of plants in perfect type, such as swamp blueberry, cranberry [etc.]. 1949Pacific Spectator Spring 223 You had to cross the river..to find the low swamp blueberries, lighter blue and sweeter than any other kind.
1793in M. Cutler's Life, etc. (1888) II. 292 Our *Swamp Cabbage (or Dracontium foetidum). 1880Harper's Mag. June 66 The swamp-cabbage flower..peers above the ground beneath his purple spotted hood. 1938M. K. Rawlings Yearling xx. 250 He pulled away layer after layer of the white cores and came at last to the hearts [of palms], crisp and sweet. He said, ‘Now I want that fryin' pan, Mr. Penny, please, for my swamp cabbage.’ 1942S. Kennedy Palmetto Country 3 Folks outside the region usually think of the palmetto as the tall palm which is locally called the swamp cabbage or cabbage palm. 1976National Observer (U.S.) 22 May 16-a/1 They were forced to subsist on a diet of unpolished rice, swamp cabbage, and tiny fish.
1847*Swamp cheeses [see swamp-apple above].
1876tr. Heer's Primæval World Switzerland I. viii. 325 Taxodium distichum miocenum, the *swamp-cypress... This species is completely analogous to the swamp-cypress of America (Taxodium distichum, Rich., sp.).
1924C. Deam Shrubs Indiana 109 Rubus hispidus Linnaeus. *Swamp Dewberry. 1942L. R. Tehon Fieldbk. Native Illinois Shrubs 116 The Swamp Dewberry grows near lakes and marshes, especially at the base of wooded slopes. 1976Hortus Third (L. H. Bailey Hortorium) 985/2 Swamp dewberry, running blackberry, swamp b., slender, hispid, often glandular trailer, laying close to the ground, without prickles.
1817W. Darby Geogr. Descr. Louisiana 353 Cornus alba. *Swamp dogwood. 1847Darlington Amer. Weeds, etc. (1860) 79 Poisonous Rhus. Poison Sumach. Poison Elder. Swamp Dogwood.
1817W. Darby Geogr. Descr. Louisana 356 Ulmus aquatica. *Swamp elm.
1868Rep. U.S. Commissioner Agric. (1869) 82 Many specimens of Bryaxis were beaten off of *swamp grass. 1907C. Hill-Tout Brit. N. Amer., Far West vi. 119 Various swamp grasses, of which the bulrush is the commonest specimen [used].
1851J. Mitchell in Pap. & Proc. Roy. Soc. Van Diemen's Land (1853) II. 132 (Morris) The *Swamp Gum grows to the largest size of any of this family in Van Diemen's Land. 1889J. H. Maiden Usef. Pl. Australia 27 Eucalyptus Gunnii..in South-Eastern Australia..it is known as ‘White Gum’, ‘Swamp Gum’, or ‘White Swamp Gum’. Eucalyptus viminalis,..The ‘White Gum’, or ‘Swamp Gum’ of Tasmania.
1762Eliot in Mills System Pract. Husb. I. 156 Take the roots of *swamp hellebore (known in different places by the several names of skunk cabbage, tickle weed, bear root).
1806in Message from President of U.S., communicating Discoveries made in exploring the Missouri by Captains Lewis & Clark 65 The growth, on the highest [places is] handsome oaks, *swamp hickory, ash, grape vines, &c. 1817W. Darby Geogr. Descr. Louisiana 354 Juglans aquatica. Swamp hickory. 1912I. S. Cobb Back Home 306 He was tough as swamp hickory. 1938C. H. Matschat Suwannee River 161 They alus stuck togither tightern the bark on a swamp hickory.
1856A. Gray Man. Bot. 257 Azalea viscosa, Clammy Azalea. White *Swamp-Honeysuckle. 1958G. A. Petrides Field Guide Trees & Shrubs 47 Swamp Honeysuckle Lonicera oblongifolia... A more or less hairless honeysuckle.
1743J. Clayton Flora Virginica 83 Magnolia Laurifolia,..*Swamp-Laurel. 1787T. Jefferson Notes State Virginia (1787) 60 Swamp laurel. Magnolia glauca. 1845–50A. H. Lincoln Lect. Bot. App. 116 Kalmia glauca (swamp-laurel). 1869J. G. Fuller Uncle John's Flower-Gatherers 138 The farmers around here call it [sc. Kalmia] ‘Swamp-Laurel’. 1884C. S. Sargent Rep. Forests N. Amer. 20 Sweet Bay..Swamp Laurel... A tree 15 to 22 meters in height.
1737J. Brickell Nat. Hist. N. Carolina 21 Another Weed, vulgarly called the *Swamp-Lillie..grows in the Marshes and low Grounds, and is something like our Dock in its Leaves. 1814Roxburgh Hort. Bengal. 23 Crinum americanum. Swamp lily. N.S. Wales. 1902Cornish Naturalist Thames 180 On the green bank of our flower-bordered brook, the American swamp-lily finds its natural place.
1829Loudon Encycl. Plants 868 Gleditschia..monosperma Ph. *Swamp Locust Tree.
1878T. Meehan Native Fl. & Ferns U.S. I. 36 *Swamp-lover.
1872Schele de Vere Americanisms 422 The Sweet Bay is..not to be compared to the *Swamp Magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora).
1884A. Nilson Timber Trees New South Wales 71 *Swamp Mahogany.—A large tree..with a rough furrowed bark. 1886T. Heney Fortunate Days 50 Swamp-mahogany's floss-flowered arms.
1810*Swamp maple [see maple tree]. 1869Mrs. Stowe Oldtown Folks xiv. 153 Here and there, a swamp-maple seemed all one crimson flame. 1936E. B. White Let. 3 Sept. (1976) 141 Joe and I have gathered boughs of red swamp maple, to decorate the back porch. 1969T. H. Everett Living Trees of World xxii. 221/1 The most important American soft maples are the red or swamp maple..and the silver maple.
1796Nemnich Polygl.-Lex., *Swamp pea-tree, Aeschynomene aquatica.
1731Miller Gard. Dict. s.v. Abies, Pinus; Americana, palustris. The *Swamp Pine. 1743M. Catesby Nat. Hist. Carolina II. p. xxii, The Swamp Pine grows on barren wet land. 1851J. S. Springer Forest Life 41 This difference is accounted for by..the tardiness with which the swamp Pine matures. 1958G. A. Petrides Field Guide Trees & Shrubs 15 Swamp Pine..similar to Pitch Pine.
1840Bigelow Plants of Boston 52 Azalea viscosa, Wild honeysuckle, *Swamp pink.
1775Nat. Hist. in Ann. Reg. 942 Being a *swamp plant, a north-east aspect will be the properest situation at first to plant it in. 1896M. Kingsley W. Africa 326 From out its dark waters no swamp plant or tree grew.
1861Bentley Man. Bot. 697 A serviceable grain known as Canada Rice or *Swamp Rice.
1785H. Marshall Arbustrum Americanum 135 *Swamp Pennsylvanian Rose..[rises] to a height of four or five feet. 1814J. Bigelow Florula Bostoniensis 121 Swamp rose..grows in swamps and wet grounds. 1902Outing June 272/2 The Carolina or swamp rose..is well known to us all.
1796Nemnich Polygl.-Lex., *Swamp sassafras, Magnolia glauca. 1829Loudon Encycl. Plants 479 Magnolia glauca is deciduous. In America it is known by the names of white laurel, swamp sassafras, and beaver tree.
1887Bentley Man. Bot. (ed. 5) 618 Asclepias incarnata, *Swamp Silk-weed.
1721Dudley in Phil. Trans. XXXI. 145 The Poyson-Wood-Tree..is by some called the *Swamp Sumach. 1814Swamp sumach [see poison dogwood s.v. poison n. 5 b]. 1945H. T. Darlington Higher Plants of Michigan 25 Red maple and swamp sumac..may add to the brilliant effect.
1862W. Archer in G. Whiting Products Tasmania 29 *Swamp Tea-tree (Melaleuca ericœfolia).
1765J. Bartram Jrnl. 31 July in Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc. (1942) XXXIII. 17/1 They have y⊇ upland willow oak with A hoary leafe, & y⊇ *swamp willow with A narrow leafe. 1865Mrs. M. Harris St. Philip's 23 The pond lay in a sort of basin, with..swamp-willows dipping down into its brink.
▪ II. swamp, a. Sc. and north. dial.|swamp|
[Perhaps related to swamp n., the notion of ‘depression, subsidence’ being the connecting link; there is a remarkable parallel in dial. swank n. = depression in the ground, deep hollow, bog, and swank adj. = thin in the belly.]
Of a body that may be or is normally distended: That has sunk and become flat; thin from emptiness, as the breasts, the belly, etc.
c1375Sc. Leg. Saints xxvii. (Machor) 1597 Sume [men] throu ydropesy sa gret Swolne þat þai ma ete no mete, Are mad swampe þar. Ibid. xl. (Ninian) 799. a 1583 Polwart Flyting w. Montgomerie 776 (Tullibardine MS.) Swamp sandie, come fra candie, with grandie opprest. 1615Crooke Body of Man 254 If in a woman with childe the breasts do suddenly fall swampe as we say, then will shee abort or miscarry. 1631R. H. Arraignm. Whole Creature iv. 28 A kind of light Pelsie corne, inclosed in certaine eares, which are long and swampe. 1684Meriton Yorksh. Dial. 30 (E.D.S.), Her Ewr's but swampe, Shee's nut for Milk, I trow. a1708T. Ward Eng. Ref. ii. (1710) 105 A useful Sursingle it was,..Which as his Paunch was Full or Swamp, He'd wider make, or straiter cramp. 1885A. Munro Siren Casket 90 Their body compress'd and swamp as an eel. 1887Service Life Dr. Duguid i. xxiv. 159 The mortclaith⁓like goons she puts on gie her a swamp, cauldrife, full⁓m'unted appearance.
▪ III. swamp, v.|swɒmp|
[f. swamp n.]
1. pass. To be entangled or lost in a swamp. N. Amer. ? Obs.
1688Clayton Virginia in Phil. Trans. XVII. 986 So that she might turn thereon her weak Cattle, and such as should at any time be swamp'd. 1814Brackenridge Jrnl. in Views Louisiana 210 In spending an hour to relieve a poor ox, which was swamped near the bank.
2. orig. pass. To be submerged or inundated with water (or other liquid), as a boat, a piece of ground; hence actively, to submerge, inundate, or soak with water, etc.
1772–84Cook's Voy. (1790) IV. 1381 In the morning, the long-boat was found swamped. 1835Lytton Rienzi v. iii, The ground was swamped with blood. 1835Marryat Jacob Faithful xxxvii, The wherry..pitched so heavily, that we were afraid of being swamped. 1865Kingsley Herew. vi, At night a sea broke over them, and would have swamped the Otter, had she not been the best of sea-boats. 1879R. J. Atcherley Trip Boërland 172 The claims were continually being swamped out by the river. 1881F. Witti Diary 10 June in J. Hatton New Ceylon vi. (1881) 166 Towards midnight we awoke in our leaf hut—swamped.
transf.1858B. Taylor North. Trav. xvii. 174 Meat..is rarely properly cooked, and game..is injured by being swamped in sauces. 1883Century Mag. Sept. 643 Sand has beaten in and swamped the vegetation. 1888Portfolio Apr. 68 (Cent. Dict.) Swamped with full washes and blots of colour or strong strokes with the red pen.
3. intr.
a. in passive sense: To be swamped or submerged; to fill with water and sink, as a boat. Also fig.
1795in Nicolas Disp. Nelson (1845) VII. p. xxvii, At 11 the yawl astern swamped and was lost with all her furniture. 1821Scott Pirate viii, The boats swamped in the current—all were lost. 1858Sears Athan. iv. 40 A higher step that would have cleared him at once of materialism, and not suffered him to sink back and swamp in it again. 1873Forest & Stream 18 Dec. 290/3, I found him sitting on a log, wet, dirty, and swamping up to his waist.
b. To overflow, cause inundation. rare.
1905Contemp. Rev. July 95 Sand, mud, grass and thrift being mingled together, which a spring-tide..was silently swamping over.
4. fig.
a. (trans.) To plunge or sink as if in a swamp or in water; to overwhelm with difficulties, or esp. by superior numbers, so as to render inefficient.
1818Todd, To Swamp, to whelm or sink as in a swamp. A modern word. 1833Greville Mem. (1874) II. 380 He said the Tories were indignant at the idea of being compelled to keep quiet, and that if they were to be swamped the sooner it was done the better. 1836Disraeli Lett. Runnymede 171 The Whigs in 1718 sought to govern the country by ‘swamping’ the House of Commons; in 1836 it is the House of Lords that is to be ‘swamped’. 1846Wellington in Croker Papers (1884) 31 Oct., He..endeavoured to swamp [the erection of] the statue in Parliament. 1861Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. i. (1889) 2 The fast set..swamped, and gave the tone to, the college. 1893F. C. Selous Trav. S.E. Africa 9, I feel convinced that in South Africa the Dutch element will never become swamped as it has been in America.
b. To ruin financially.
1864Mrs. J. H. Riddell Geo. Geith I. xv. 281 Mortgages enough to have swamped any man. 1879Tourgee Fool's Err. xviii. 91 If I gave in to them, I..would be swamped by my fertilizer account in the fall.
5. N. Amer. To make (a logging-road) in a forest or ‘swamp’ by felling trees, clearing away undergrowth, etc. Also, to haul (logs) to the skidways. Also with out.
1784M. Patten Diary 18 Mar. (1903) 480, I swampt out 4 small oak logs the boys saved in cuting wood Ready for hauling out. 1851J. S. Springer Forest Life 84 This is done by an experienced hand, who ‘spots’ the trees where he wishes the road to be ‘swamped’. 1857Thoreau Maine W., Allegash & E. Branch (1912) 289 Making a logging-road in the Maine woods is called ‘swamping it’... This was the most perfectly swamped of all the roads I ever saw. 1871R. L. Dashwood Chiploquorgan viii. 104 A crew of lumberers have different occupations assigned to them;..the ‘swampers’, who ‘swamp’—cut roads—to the felled trees, to enable the ‘teamster’ and his assistants to haul them on a ‘Bob sled’. 1908H. Day King Spruce xi. 129 The boys who were swampin' the twitch-roads. 1937P. K. Devine Devine's Folk Lore of Newfoundland 50 To swamp a road or path is to build one with a bedding of boughs to be used in hauling slide loads of wood in winter. 1954C. Bruce Channel Shore 27 [He] had swamped a hauling-road into the middle of the stretch that lay south of the shore road. 1974D. Sears Lark in Clear Air iii. 40 Where the logs came from and who cut them and the names of the horses that swamped them out.
6. intr. To work as a bullock-driver's assistant (also casually, in return for having one's ‘swag’ carried); to make (one's way) by obtaining a lift from a traveller. Cf. swamper 1 c, d. Austral. slang.
1926K. S. Prichard Working Bullocks 101 Billy Williams the bullocky, and Ern Collins who was swamping for him, turned their team into the yards on the following Monday. 1937E. Hill Ports of Sunset 96 In they came, across the jagged Leopolds, or up from the desert, ‘swamping’ with a bullocky, staggering behind a pack donkey, or on Shanks' pony. 1944M. J. O'Reilly Bowyangs & Boomerangs 6 My duties were to help to load and unload, bring the horses in the morning, to harness up, help to corduroy bad patches on the track, [etc.]... Fortunately the chap I ‘swamped’ for was an exceptionally good sort. 1964T. Ronan Packhorse & Pearling Boat 170 If I broke it for a tenner, I'd roll my swag and swamp my way back to Queensland.
Hence swamped |swɒmpt| ppl. a., swamping vbl. n. and ppl. a.
1802Scott Let. in Lockhart (1837) I. xi. 357 Besides the risks of swamping and breaking our necks. 1828–43Tytler Hist. Scot. (1864) I. 130 Many..were drowned by the swamping of one of the vessels. 1871Whittier Sisters xiii, In peril from swamping sea Or lee shore rocks. 1891Law Times XCII. 74/2 The swamping of the ecclesiastical element in the House of Lords. 1899Edin. Rev. Oct. 302 The swamped area and the rotting vegetation are sufficient cause for the unhealthiness of the tract. 1902S. E. White Blazed Trail vi. 45 Old man Heath was a veteran woodsman who had come to swamping in his old age. |