swale

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“
There is a hill in the pasture, and I went to the top of this and saw the colt at the far side of the pasture in what we call the swale--low, wet ground, where weeds abound.

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Definitions (13)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. noun A low tract of land, especially when moist or marshy.
  2. noun A long, narrow, usually shallow trough between ridges on a beach, running parallel to the coastline.
  3. noun A shallow troughlike depression that carries water mainly during rainstorms or snow melts.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (6)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (3)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (1)

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Examples (50)

  • I landed on the front-left corner of the 22,000-square-foot green and had to putt through a gully so deep it couldn't be called a swale.
  • Right now the swale is filled with snow, but you can see the dogwood shrubs glowing bright red against the white snow. —  News & Features from Minnesota Public Radio
  • She glanced swiftly over her shoulder and when she returned her eyes to the front one of the riders was disappearing over the rim of the swale, and the other was struggling to his feet. —  Prairie Flowers
  • It appeared to come from a swale, or depression among some small, rounded knolls Sounds like a cattle stampede," remarked Bud, urging his pony forward. —  The Boy Ranchers Among the Indians or, Trailing the Yaquis
  • This ridge crossed the swale, or valley, and divided what lay beyond from the view of the six little Bunkers. —  Six Little Bunkers at Cowboy Jack's
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Etymologies (5)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Perhaps from Middle English, shade, perhaps of Scandinavian origin; akin to Old Norse svalr, cool.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (4)

  1. from Middle English swale, shade; perhaps connected with swale or with sweal.
  2. from Icelandic svalr = Swedish Danish sval, cool; cf. Icelandic sval, a cool breeze, svalar, n. plural, a kind of balcony running along a wall, = Swedish Danish svale, a gallery.
  3. from Middle English swalen; a secondary form of swelen: see sweal.
  4. from swale, v.
 

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/sweɪl/
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