Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To faint.
- v. To be overwhelmed by ecstatic joy.
- n. A fainting spell; syncope. See Synonyms at blackout.
- n. A state of ecstasy or rapture.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To faint.
- To steal upon like a swoon; approach like faintness.
- n. The act of swooning, or the state of one who has swooned; a fainting-fit; syncope; lipothymy.
Wiktionary
- n. A faint.
- n. An infatuation
- v. dated to faint, to lose consciousness
- v. to be overwhelmed by emotion (especially infatuation)
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To sink into a fainting fit, in which there is an apparent suspension of the vital functions and mental powers; to faint; -- often with
away . - n. A fainting fit; syncope.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a spontaneous loss of consciousness caused by insufficient blood to the brain
- v. pass out from weakness, physical or emotional distress due to a loss of blood supply to the brain
Etymologies
- From Middle English swownen, swonen ("to faint"), and Middle English aswoune ("in a swoon"), both ultimately from Old English ġeswōgen ("insensible, senseless, dead"), past participle of swōgan ("to make a sound, overrun, suffocate") (compare Old English āswōgan ("to cover over, overcome")), from Proto-Germanic *swōganan (“to make a noise”), from Proto-Indo-European *swāghe- (“to shout”). Cognate with Low German swogen ("to sigh, groan"), Dutch zwoegen ("to groan, breathe heavily"), Norwegian dialectal søgja ("to whistle, hum, talk loudly"). More at sough. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English swounen, probably from iswowen, in a swoon, from Old English geswōgen, past participle of *swōgan, to suffocate. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Which is redolent with the central tenets of surrealism that made Lamarkin swoon (“beauty will be convulsive or not at all.”), when it involved a deep awareness of the unconscious, before it became a synonym for indolence and an excuse for the dirty word of indifference.”
“The consensus is that Obama's mid-term swoon has begun and the health care bill is going to be the first casualty.”
“Housing sales and prices continue their interminable swoon, which is a serious drag on the overall economy and likely to remain through 2012.”
The Huffington Post: Jerry Jasinowski: A Summer Global Slowdown
“Whatever her true malady, one thing was perfectly clear: whether her swoon was the press's fault or not, the Michiko-bashing era is over.”
“I fall from my chair in a swoon, which is of longer or shorter endurance.”
“As he told it, his swoon was a mere untoward incident and hindrance in a spiritual drama, the thrill of which, while he described it, passed even to her.”
“This time the swoon was a deathly one, and did not yield easily.”
“Fifteen minutes before we left her dead, or in a dead swoon, which is all the same in Greek, and yet he talks of her getting up and going off herself!”
“It's true, their swoon is the result of unilateral failure that doesn't logically figure to turn around all at once.”
“Unless, of course, you've fallen under the spell of Alex O'Loughlin, in which case you'll swoon, which is just as the producers had intended.”
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Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘swoon’.
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Sue's favorite words
panache, flair, pantaloons, periwinkle, pumpernickel, persnickety, cachet, coquette, élan, iris, ambrosia, keen and 99 more...
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EN - archaic words
abide, abjure, abroad, adamant, afield, aforetime, aghast, anon, apace, argent, assuage, aught and 328 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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The weird, the wonderful and the plai...
Loved for their ingenuity, an exact description, or simply for the pure joy of it.
acidulous, aprosdoketon, higgledy-piggledy, lexicographical, ninja, audacious, somnabulist, shivaree, amorphous, quidnunc, glib, melancholy and 353 more...
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The Pain of Texting
Words that are a pain in the ass to type in on a numerical keypad on a cell phone because they have consecutive letters that share the same button:
2 - ABC
3 - DEF
4 - GHI...defcon, hi, no, attitude, xylophone, on, monday, monkey, mono, dig, back, babble and 212 more...
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Dash's list
Words of interest.
cacogen, fricatrice, destrier, swoon, multiverse, haggard, entranced, entheogen, passionate, ascendant, conciliator, bandylegged and 34 more...
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essbunny@gmail.com's list
Intrigued by these words...
sphincter, blush, flume, shingle, spurt, pulp, precious, squeal, zest, zeal, cherish, fervor and 35 more...
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intueri's Words
inveigle, dolorous, archly, feckless, resplendent, concatenation, peripatetic, delightful, cookie, fey, ephemeral, effervescent and 347 more...
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Fun Words
Words that are fun to say....
gobbledygook, jings, crivens, hullabaloo, wheech, brouhaha, pizzazz, harum-scarum, namby-pamby, pussyfoot, frippery, pitter-patter and 333 more...
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Twitter favorites
The new favourite words of people on Twitter.
A script searches Twitter for "X is my new favorite word" and adds it to this list.
See also:
unfathomably, glice, cuh, fab, ciggaty, doll, thuggin, oxymoronic, pineapple, succubutt, griming, cheeky and 2369 more... -
Buttery
Words that make me feel cozy
Feather, Mug, Knit, Socks, Snug, Soft, Butter, Nugget, Noodle, Curl, Billow, Lounge and 315 more...
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Just 'cause I like 'em, S
scrunch, solace, sabotage, saccade, sacerdotal, sacrilegious, sacristy, snappy, skew, steadfast, scowl, scorch and 781 more...
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Words Covered in Faery Dust (S)
words that evoke magic, mystery, mayhem, magnificence or anything else that glimmers in the grass
sabian symbols, saffron, sagacious, sage, salamander, sally lunn, salmon, salsify, salt water taffy, samhain, sand dollar, sandalwood and 270 more...
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zzyyxx's Words
plethora, drout, functional, rye, wring, doubt, cognative, weird, gnaw, surcease, rend, languish and 438 more...
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sillygoose's Words
nefarious, waffle, dilettante, love, obstreperous, suggestible, fodder, plucky, trajectory, eclectic, juggernaut, demure and 115 more...
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edes's Words
table talk, tuneful, bestrewn, determinate fashion, unpretending, personage, duly impressed, shirring, caw, hatchet job, gummy, comely and 225 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for swoon.
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