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Sweal

//swiːl// verb

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To burn slowly. intransitive
  2. 2
    To melt and run down, as the tallow of a candle; waste away without feeding the flame. intransitive

    "[M]ind ye dinna let the candle sweal as ye gang alang the wainscot parlour, and haud a' the house scouring to get out the grease again."

  3. 3
    To singe; scorch; dress (as a hog) with burning or singeing. transitive
  4. 4
    To consume with fire; burn. dialectal, transitive
  5. 5
    To make disappear; cause to waste away; diminish; reduce. dialectal, transitive

    ""He thinks it's only a tumour!" cried Annie to her mother. "And he can sweal it away.""

Etymology

From Middle English swelen, from Old English swelan (“to burn, be burnt up, inflame”) (compare Old English swǣlan (“to burn”)), from Proto-West Germanic *swelan, from Proto-Germanic *swelaną (“to smoulder, burn slowly, create a burningly cold sensation”), from Proto-Indo-European *swel- (“to shine, warm, smoulder, burn”). Cognate with Dutch zwelen (“to smoulder”), Low German swelen (“to smoulder”), German schwelen (“to smoulder”), Icelandic svala (“to cool”). Related to swelter.

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