Adjacent Words

Organ swell definitions

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Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Swell Swell, n. 1. The act of swelling. 2. Gradual increase. Specifically: (a) Increase or augmentation in bulk; protuberance. (b) Increase in height; elevation; rise. Little River affords navigation during a swell to within three miles of the Miami. --Jefferson. (c) Increase of force, intensity, or volume of sound. Music arose with its voluptuous swell. --Byron. (d) Increase of power in style, or of rhetorical force. The swell and subsidence of his periods. --Landor. 3. A gradual ascent, or rounded elevation, of land; as, an extensive plain abounding with little swells. 4. A wave, or billow; especially, a succession of large waves; the roll of the sea after a storm; as, a heavy swell sets into the harbor. The swell Of the long waves that roll in yonder bay. --Tennyson. The gigantic swells and billows of the snow. --Hawthorne. 5. (Mus.) A gradual increase and decrease of the volume of sound; the crescendo and diminuendo combined; -- generally indicated by the sign. 6. A showy, dashing person; a dandy. [Slang] Ground swell. See under Ground. Organ swell (Mus.), a certain number of pipes inclosed in a box, the uncovering of which by means of a pedal produces increased sound. Swell shark (Zo["o]l.), a small shark (Scyllium ventricosum) of the west coast of North America, which takes in air when caught, and swells up like a swellfish.