Swamp

Definition of Swamp

n.1.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
b - (Zool.) See Redwing (b).
Swamp cabbage
(Bot.) skunk cabbage.
Swamp deer
(Zool.) an Asiatic deer (Rucervus Duvaucelli) of India.
Swamp hen
a - (Zool.) 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 viscosa syn. Rhododendron viscosa or Rhododendron viscosum) growing in swampy places, with fragrant flowers of a white color, or white tinged with rose; - called also swamp pink and white swamp honeysuckle.
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.) (Min.), bog ore; limonite.
Swamp partridge
(Zool.) any one of several Australian game birds of the genera Synoicus and Excalfatoria, allied to the European partridges.
Swamp robin
(Zool.) 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
(Zool.) 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.
v. t.1.To plunge or sink into a swamp.
[imp. & p. p. Swamped ; p. pr. & vb. n. Swamping.]
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.
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.

Related Words

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Swainship
Swaip
Swal
Swale
Swallet
Swallow
Swallow plover
Swallow shrike
Swallow warbler
Swallow-tailed
Swallow-tailed duck
Swallow-tailed gull
Swallow-tailed hawk
swallow-tailed kite
Swallow-tailed moth
Swallower
Swallowfish
Swallowtail
Swallowwort
Swam
-Swamp-
Swamp blackbird
Swamp cabbage
Swamp deer
Swamp hen
Swamp honeysuckle
Swamp hook
Swamp itch
Swamp laurel
Swamp maple
Swamp oak
Swamp ore
Swamp partridge
swamp pink
Swamp robin
Swamp sassafras
Swamp sparrow
Swamp willow
Swampy
Swan
Swan goose
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