Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Swamp?

\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.