[syn: bang-up, bully, corking, cracking, dandy, great, groovy, keen, neat, nifty, not bad(p), peachy, slap-up, swell, smashing]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Swell \Swell\, v. i. [imp. Swelled; p. p. Swelled or
Swollen; p. pr. & vb. n. Swelling.] [AS. swellan; akin to
D. zwellen, OS. & OHG. swellan, G. schwellen, Icel. svella,
Sw. sv[aum]lla.]
1. To grow larger; to dilate or extend the exterior surface
or dimensions, by matter added within, or by expansion of
the inclosed substance; as, the legs swell in dropsy; a
bruised part swells; a bladder swells by inflation.
[1913 Webster]
2. To increase in size or extent by any addition; to increase
in volume or force; as, a river swells, and overflows its
banks; sounds swell or diminish.
[1913 Webster]
3. To rise or be driven into waves or billows; to heave; as,
in tempest, the ocean swells into waves.
[1913 Webster]
4. To be puffed up or bloated; as, to swell with pride.
[1913 Webster]
You swell at the tartan, as the bull is said to do
at scarlet. --Sir W.
Scott.
[1913 Webster]
5. To be inflated; to belly; as, the sails swell.
[1913 Webster]
6. To be turgid, bombastic, or extravagant; as, swelling
words; a swelling style.
[1913 Webster]
7. To protuberate; to bulge out; as, a cask swells in the
middle.
[1913 Webster]
8. To be elated; to rise arrogantly.
[1913 Webster]
Your equal mind yet swells not into state. --Dryden.
[1913 Webster]
9. To grow upon the view; to become larger; to expand.
"Monarchs to behold the swelling scene!" --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
10. To become larger in amount; as, many little debts added,
swell to a great amount.
[1913 Webster]
11. To act in a pompous, ostentatious, or arrogant manner; to
strut; to look big.
[1913 Webster]
Here he comes, swelling like a turkey cock. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Swell \Swell\, a.
Having the characteristics of a person of rank and
importance; showy; dandified; distinguished; as, a swell
person; a swell neighborhood. [Slang]
[1913 Webster]
Swell mob. See under Mob. [Slang]
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Swell \Swell\, n.
1. The act of swelling.
[1913 Webster]
2. Gradual increase. Specifically:
(a) Increase or augmentation in bulk; protuberance.
(b) Increase in height; elevation; rise.
[1913 Webster]
Little River affords navigation during a swell
to within three miles of the Miami. --Jefferson.
[1913 Webster]
(c) Increase of force, intensity, or volume of sound.
[1913 Webster]
Music arose with its voluptuous swell. --Byron.
[1913 Webster]
(d) Increase of power in style, or of rhetorical force.
[1913 Webster]
The swell and subsidence of his periods.
--Landor.
[1913 Webster]
3. A gradual ascent, or rounded elevation, of land; as, an
extensive plain abounding with little swells.
[1913 Webster]
4. A wave, or billow; especially, a succession of large
waves; the roll of the sea after a storm; as, a heavy
swell sets into the harbor.
[1913 Webster]
The swell
Of the long waves that roll in yonder bay.
--Tennyson.
[1913 Webster]
The gigantic swells and billows of the snow.
--Hawthorne.
[1913 Webster]
5. (Mus.) A gradual increase and decrease of the volume of
sound; the crescendo and diminuendo combined; -- generally
indicated by the sign.
[1913 Webster]
6. A showy, dashing person; a dandy. [Slang]
[1913 Webster]
Ground swell. See under Ground.
Organ swell (Mus.), a certain number of pipes inclosed in a
box, the uncovering of which by means of a pedal produces
increased sound.
Swell shark (Zool.), a small shark (Scyllium ventricosum)
of the west coast of North America, which takes in air
when caught, and swells up like a swellfish.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Swell \Swell\, v. t.
1. To increase the size, bulk, or dimensions of; to cause to
rise, dilate, or increase; as, rains and dissolving snow
swell the rivers in spring; immigration swells the
population.
[1913 Webster]
[The Church] swells her high, heart-cheering tone.
--Keble.
[1913 Webster]
2. To aggravate; to heighten.
[1913 Webster]
It is low ebb with his accuser when such
peccadilloes are put to swell the charge.
--Atterbury.
[1913 Webster]
3. To raise to arrogance; to puff up; to inflate; as, to be
swelled with pride or haughtiness.
[1913 Webster]
4. (Mus.) To augment gradually in force or loudness, as the
sound of a note.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
swell
adj 1: very good; "he did a bully job"; "a neat sports car";
"had a great time at the party"; "you look simply
smashing" [syn: bang-up, bully, corking,
cracking, dandy, great, groovy, keen, neat,
nifty, not bad(p), peachy, slap-up, swell,
smashing]
n 1: the undulating movement of the surface of the open sea
[syn: swell, crestless wave]
2: a rounded elevation (especially one on an ocean floor)
3: a crescendo followed by a decrescendo
4: a man who is much concerned with his dress and appearance
[syn: dandy, dude, fop, gallant, sheik, beau,
swell, fashion plate, clotheshorse]
v 1: increase in size, magnitude, number, or intensity; "The
music swelled to a crescendo"
2: become filled with pride, arrogance, or anger; "The mother
was swelling with importance when she spoke of her son" [syn:
swell, puff up]
3: expand abnormally; "The bellies of the starving children are
swelling" [syn: swell, swell up, intumesce, tumefy,
tumesce]
4: come up (as of feelings and thoughts, or other ephemeral
things); "Strong emotions welled up"; "Smoke swelled from it"
[syn: well up, swell]
5: come up, as of a liquid; "Tears well in her eyes"; "the
currents well up" [syn: well, swell]
6: cause to become swollen; "The water swells the wood"
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
511 Moby Thesaurus words for "swell":
Babylonian, Beau Brummel, Brahman, Corinthian, OK, accent,
accent mark, accrue, accumulate, ace-high, add to, advance,
aggrandize, amplify, anthill, appreciate, archduke, aristocrat,
armiger, augment, awake the dead, awe-inspiring, awful, bad, bag,
balloon, bang-up, bar, barbaric, baron, baronet, barrow, be poised,
beau, belly, belly out, bilge, billow, blade, blast, blast the ear,
bloat, bloatedness, bloating, blood, blow up, blowing up,
blue blood, boil, bonzer, boom, boost, bore, bosom, boss, bouge,
boulevardier, brae, braw, break, breakers, breed, broaden,
broadening, bug, build, build up, bulge, bulk, bulk out, bully,
bump, bunion, but good, butte, cancel, carbuncle, character, chic,
choir, chop, choppiness, chopping sea, classy, claviature,
clothes-conscious, clotheshorse, cock, comb, comber, console, cool,
corking, corn, cosmopolitan, count, coxcomb, crackerjack, crash,
crescendo, custos, cyst, dab, dabster, daimio, dandy, dapper, dash,
dashing, deafen, delicious, deluxe, develop, diastole, dilatation,
dilate, dilation, din, direct, dirty water, distend, distension,
dot, down, dressed to advantage, dressed to kill, dropsy, drumlin,
ducky, dude, duke, dune, eagre, earl, ebb and flow, echo, edema,
eighty-eight, elaborate, elegant, enlarge, enlargement, esquire,
expand, expansion, expression mark, exquisite, extend, extension,
extravagant, fab, fancy, fashion plate, fashionable, fatten, fell,
fermata, fidget, fill out, fill the air, fine, fine and dandy,
fine gentleman, fingerboard, first-class, first-rate, flatulence,
flatulency, flatus, flip out, flutter, foothills, fop,
freak out on, fribble, fullness, furuncle, gain, gain strength,
gallant, gassiness, gear, genteel, gentleman, get ahead,
get high on, glorious, glow, go pitapat, go up, goggle, grand,
grand duke, grandee, grandiose, gravity wave, great, greaten,
groovy, ground swell, grow, have the fidgets, have the shakes,
hear, heave, heavy, heavy sea, heavy swell, hidalgo, hike, hike up,
hill, hillock, hold, hot, huff, hummock, hunky-dory, imposing,
impressive, increase, inflate, inflation, intensify, intensity,
intumescence, ivories, jack-a-dandy, jackanapes, jam-up, jaunty,
jerk, just dandy, keen, key signature, keyboard, keys, knob, knoll,
lace-curtain, lady-killer, laird, landgrave, lead, lift, ligature,
look big, lop, lord, lordling, loudishness, loudness,
lounge lizard, lump, luxurious, macaroni, magnate, magnificent,
magnifico, magnify, majestic, man-about-town, manual, margrave,
mark, marquis, marvy, masher, master, mean, measure, meteorism,
metronomic mark, modish, molehill, monticle, monticule, moor,
mound, mount, multiply, mushroom, natty, neat, nifty, nob, nobby,
noble, nobleman, notation, okay, optimate, organ manual,
out of sight, overdevelop, overdistend, overdraw, overexpand,
overextend, overstrain, overstretch, palatial, palpitate,
palsgrave, pant, past master, patrician, pause, peachy,
peachy-keen, peacock, peak, peal, pedals, peer, piano keys, pimple,
plush, pock, pontificate, pooch, pop, popple, posh, pouch, pout,
presa, princely, pro, proliferate, proud, puff, puff up, puffiness,
puffing, pump, pump up, puppy, pustule, put on, put on airs,
put on side, quake, quaver, quiver, raise, rarefy,
rattle the windows, recherche, rend the air, rend the ears,
resound, riffle, ring, ripping, ripple, rise, rise and fall,
rising, ritz it, ritzy, rock the sky, roll, roller, rough water,
round out, rum, run up, sand dune, scend, scrumptious, sea,
sebaceous cyst, segno, seigneur, seignior, send, shake, sharp,
shiver, shoot up, sign, signature, silk-stocking, slap-up, sleek,
slur, smart, smash, smashing, smug, snazzy, snowball, soigne,
soignee, solid, solo, something else, sonority, sonorousness,
sophisticated, spark, spectacular, spiffing, spiffy, splendacious,
splendid, splendiferous, split the eardrums, split the ears, sport,
spread, spruce, squire, squirm, startle the echoes, stately,
step up, strain, strengthen, stretch, stretching, stun, stunning,
style-conscious, stylish, sufflate, sumptuous, super, superb,
superfancy, superfine, surf, surge, surge of sound, swagger, swank,
swanky, swell it, swell out, swell with emotion, swellage,
swelling, swollenness, symbol, tempo mark, terrific, thoroughbred,
thrill, thrill to, thrilling, throb, thunder, tidal bore,
tidal wave, tide wave, tie, time signature, tingle,
tingle with excitement, toss, toss and turn, tough, tremble,
tricksy, trig, trim, trough, tsunami, tumble, tumefaction, tumefy,
tumescence, tumidity, tumidness, tumor, turgescence, turgescency,
turgidity, turgidness, turn on to, twist and turn, twitch, twitter,
tympanism, tympany, undulate, undulation, up, upper-cruster,
vinculum, viscount, volume, waldgrave, water wave, wave, wavelet,
wax, well-dressed, well-groomed, wen, white horses, whitecaps,
whiz, widen, wiggle, windiness, wizard, wonderful, wriggle,
writhe