maelstrom

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“
So Yette returned to fill the empty chair at the Sabbath board, and the pedler's faith was justified My other chip from the maelstrom was a lad half grown.

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Definitions (6)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. noun A violent or turbulent situation: caught in the maelstrom of war.
  2. noun A whirlpool of extraordinary size or violence.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (2)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (1)

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Examples (50)

  • My mind was like a maelstrom, spiraling the thoughts round and round, and dredging them back up again. —  Omni: May 1994
  • It was my first and only media maelstrom, my 15 minutes of fame, or better yet, the day I became infamous. —  Aspen Times - Top Stories
  • In this maelstrom, there steps forward Bernard L. Madoff, the Einstein of Ponzi schemes, who operated his colossal con for twenty years without notice from regulators. —  CounterPunch
  • Colleagues and family members talk of Carter as an emotionally volatile, courageous man, one who may well have been unprepared for the maelstrom that erupted when his photo of the starving child appeared worldwide.
  • The only individual whom the liberal media and Democrat political operatives might have counted upon to change course under such a maelstrom is John McCain himself. —  MND: Your Daily Dose of Counter-Theory
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This word has been looked up 158 times.

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Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Obsolete Dutch : Dutch malen, to grind, whirl (from Middle Dutch; see melə- in Indo-European roots) + Dutch stroom, stream (from Middle Dutch; see sreu- in Indo-European roots).

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. An erroneous spelling (sometimes erroneously explained as ‘mill-stream’); properly *malestrom or *malstrom; formerly malestrand (see quot.), simulating strand; from Norwegian malstraum (little used) (= Danish malström), a great whirlpool in the sea, from mala (= Danish male), grind (see meal), + straum (= Danish ström), stream: see stream.
 

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/ˈmeɪlstrɑm/
by American Heritage

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