: 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
The doctors scheduled me for a barium swallow test, also known as an esophagram, to measure how my esophagus was draining.—Rachel S. Hunt, Washington Post, 6 July 2024 Arwen takes one swallow, grimaces, and puts down the glass.—Annie Proulx, The New Yorker, 30 June 2024
Verb
The condition causes an increasing number of brain cells to become damaged and die over time, causing worsening problems with movement, speech, memory and swallowing, according to the UK’s National Health Service website.—Amarachi Orie, CNN, 19 July 2024 And then there’s the safety pin: It was swallowed, open, by so many children that a surgeon developed a special tool to extract it, Tenner said.—Joel Achenbach, Washington Post, 19 July 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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