Adjacent Words

Whelm definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

WHELM, v.t.
1. To cover with water or other fluid; to cover by immersion in something that envelops on all sides; as, to whelm a person or a company in the seas; to whelm a caravan in sand or dust.
2. To cover completely; to immerse deeply; to overburden; as, to whelm one in sorrows.
3. To throw over so as to cover. [Not used.]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: overcome, as with emotions or perceptual stimuli [syn: overwhelm, overpower, sweep over, whelm, overcome, overtake]

Merriam Webster's

verb Etymology: Middle English Date: 14th century transitive verb 1. to turn (as a dish or vessel) upside down usually to cover something ; cover or engulf completely with usually disastrous effect 2. to overcome in thought or feeling ; overwhelm <whelmed with a rush of joy — G. A. Wagner> intransitive verb to pass or go over something so as to bury or submerge it

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v.tr. poet. 1 engulf, submerge. 2 crush with weight, overwhelm. Etymology: OE hwelman (unrecorded) = hwylfan overturn

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Whelm Whelm, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Whelmed; p. pr. & vb. n. Whelming.] [OE. whelmen to turn over, akin to OE. whelven, AS. whelfan, hwylfan, in ?whylfan, ?whelfan, to overwhelm, cover over; akin to OS. bihwelbian, D. welven to arch, G. w["o]lben, OHG. welben, Icel. hvelfa to overturn; cf. Gr. ? bosom, a hollow, a gulf.] 1. To cover with water or other fluid; to cover by immersion in something that envelops on all sides; to overwhelm; to ingulf. She is my prize, or ocean whelm them all! --Shak. The whelming billow and the faithless oar. --Gay. 2. Fig.: To cover completely, as if with water; to immerse; to overcome; as, to whelm one in sorrows. ``The whelming weight of crime.'' --J. H. Newman. 3. To throw (something) over a thing so as to cover it. [Obs.] --Mortimer.

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

v. a. 1. Overwhelm. 2. Cover completely, immerse deeply, overwhelm, overburden.

Moby Thesaurus

baptize, be prodigal with, blank, bulldoze, bury, cascade, cataract, clobber, cream, defeat utterly, deluge, dip, douse, drown, duck, dunk, engulf, float, flood, flood the market, flow on, immerge, immerse, inundate, knock over, merge, overbear, overbrim, overcome, overdose, overequip, overflow, overfurnish, overlavish, overpower, overprovender, overprovide, overprovision, overrun, oversell, overstock, oversupply, overwhelm, paste, plunge in water, pour on, pour out, pour over, prostrate, rain, run over, schmear, shellac, shut out, sink, skunk, slop, slosh, sluice, smear, snow under, souse, spill, spill out, spill over, steamroller, submerge, submerse, swamp, sweep, whitewash, whomp, whop