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Definitions for: Swamp
[n] low land that is seasonally flooded; has more woody plants than a marsh and better drainage than a bog
[n] a situation fraught with difficulties and imponderables; "he was trapped in a medical swamp"
[v] fill quickly beyond capacity; as with a liquid; "the basement was inundated after the storm"; "The images flooded his mind"
[v] drench or submerge or be drenched or submerged; "The tsunami swamped every boat in the harbor"
Webster (1913) Definition: Swamp, n. [Cf. AS. swam a fungus, OD. swam a sponge, D.
zwam a fungus, G. schwamm a sponge, Icel. sv["o]ppr, Dan. &
Sw. swamp, Goth. swamms, Gr. somfo`s porous, spongy.]
Wet, spongy land; soft, low ground saturated with water, but
not usually covered with it; marshy ground away from the
seashore.
Gray swamps and pools, waste places of the hern.
--Tennyson.
A swamp differs from a bog and a marsh in producing
trees and shrubs, while the latter produce only
herbage, plants, and mosses. --Farming
Encyc. (E.
Edwards,
Words).
Swamp blackbird. (Zo["o]l.) See Redwing
(b) .
Swamp cabbage (Bot.), skunk cabbage.
Swamp deer (Zo["o]l.), an Asiatic deer ({Rucervus
Duvaucelli}) of India.
Swamp hen. (Zo["o]l.)
(a) An Australian azure-breasted bird (Porphyrio bellus);
-- called also goollema.
(b) An Australian water crake, or rail (Porzana Tabuensis);
-- called also little swamp hen.
(c) The European purple gallinule.
Swamp honeysuckle (Bot.), an American shrub ({Azalea, or
Rhododendron, viscosa}) growing in swampy places, with
fragrant flowers of a white color, or white tinged with
rose; -- called also swamp pink.
Swamp hook, a hook and chain used by lumbermen in handling
logs. Cf. Cant hook.
Swamp itch. (Med.) See Prairie itch, under Prairie.
Swamp laurel (Bot.), a shrub (Kalmia glauca) having small
leaves with the lower surface glaucous.
Swamp maple (Bot.), red maple. See Maple.
Swamp oak (Bot.), a name given to several kinds of oak
which grow in swampy places, as swamp Spanish oak
(Quercus palustris), swamp white oak (Q. bicolor),
swamp post oak (Q. lyrata).
Swamp ore (Min.), bog ore; limonite.
Swamp partridge (Zo["o]l.), any one of several Australian
game birds of the genera Synoicus and Excalfatoria,
allied to the European partridges.
Swamp robin (Zo["o]l.), the chewink.
Swamp sassafras (Bot.), a small North American tree of the
genus Magnolia (M. glauca) with aromatic leaves and
fragrant creamy-white blossoms; -- called also {sweet
bay}.
Swamp sparrow (Zo["o]l.), a common North American sparrow
(Melospiza Georgiana, or M. palustris), closely
resembling the song sparrow. It lives in low, swampy
places.
Swamp willow. (Bot.) See Pussy willow, under Pussy.
Swamp, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Swamped; p. pr. & vb. n.
Swamping.]
1. To plunge or sink into a swamp.
2. (Naut.) To cause (a boat) to become filled with water; to
capsize or sink by whelming with water.
3. Fig.: To plunge into difficulties and perils; to
overwhelm; to ruin; to wreck.
The Whig majority of the house of Lords was swamped
by the creation of twelve Tory peers. --J. R. Green.
Having swamped himself in following the ignis fatuus
of a theory. --Sir W.
Hamilton.
Swamp, v. i.
1. To sink or stick in a swamp; figuratively, to become
involved in insuperable difficulties.
2. To become filled with water, as a boat; to founder; to
capsize or sink; figuratively, to be ruined; to be
wrecked.
Synonyms: deluge, drench, flood, inundate, swampland
See Also: Everglades, fill, fill up, flood, flood in, make full, Okefenokee Swamp, situation, slough, state of affairs, wetland
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