Word of the Day

: December 19, 2010

welter

verb WEL-ter

What It Means

1 : writhe, toss; also : wallow

2 : to become deeply sunk, soaked, or involved

3 : to be in turmoil

welter in Context

Seasick passengers took to their cabins as the ship weltered upon the waves of the stormy sea.

"No wonder you weltered about for years in depression, addiction, serial unemployment, fragmentation, futility." -- From Sarah Gabriel's 2009 memoir Eating Pomegranates

Did You Know?

"Welter" can be used both as a noun (meaning "turmoil" or "chaos") and a verb. Which part of speech is older? The verb. It has been part of English since at least the 1300s, while the earliest uses of the noun date from the late 1590s. Both noun and verb have roots related to Dutch and Germanic terms meaning "to roll," and both have found a place in English literature. The verb helps demonstrate extreme despair in the early Arthurian legend Morte Arthure ("He welterys, he wristeles, he wrynges hys handes!"), and in 1837 Thomas Carlyle used the noun in The French Revolution ("I leave the whole business in a frightful welter: … not one of them understands anything of government").