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(), n.[Cf. AS. swam a fungus, OD. swam a sponge, D. zwam a fungus, G. schwamm a sponge, Icel. svppr, 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. (Zol.) See Redwing (b). Swamp cabbage (Bot.), skunk cabbage. Swamp deer (Zol.), an Asiatic deer (Rucervus Duvaucelli) of India. Swamp hen. (Zol.) (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 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. スポンサード リンク
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