: any of numerous small widely distributed oscine birds (family Hirundinidae, the swallow family) that have a short bill, long pointed wings, and often a deeply forked tail and that feed on insects caught on the wing
2
: any of several birds that superficially resemble swallows
Verb
He swallowed the grape whole.
Chew your food well before you swallow.
The boss said, “Come in.” I swallowed hard and walked in.
Her story is pretty hard to swallow.
I can usually take criticism, but this is more than I can swallow. Noun (2)
drank the cool refreshing water in two swallows and held out her cup for more
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
Flying 7,000 miles Purple Martins are the largest species of swallows in North America.—Jennifer Dixon, Detroit Free Press, 28 Mar. 2024 This involved inserting a fiber-optic camera attached to the end of a flexible tube, or endoscope, through my nose and into my throat to observe whether the swallow reflex was functioning properly, safely channeling food and water away from the vocal cords.—Hamish Bowles, Vogue, 25 Apr. 2024
Verb
Then the camera looks inside the bag, where several baggies of dope are hiding for Hush to swallow.—Noel Murray, Vulture, 9 June 2024 The museum also had a sinkhole swallow eight cars around 10 years ago, the last of which was pulled in March 2014, as previously reported by The Courier Journal.—Marina Johnson, The Courier-Journal, 8 June 2024 See all Example Sentences for swallow
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'swallow.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Etymology
Noun (1)
Middle English swalowe, from Old English swealwe; akin to Old High German swalawa swallow
Verb
Middle English swalowen, from Old English swelgan; akin to Old High German swelgan to swallow
First Known Use
Noun (1)
before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1
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