Browse by Letter
Choose language
Old English Dictionary Entry

Swíma

Back to Letter S
Definitions

Definitions

1 definitions

1 swíma

m. I. swimming in the head, dizziness, giddiness, vertigo :-- Hí áscamode swiciaþ on swíman ashamed they wander dizzily, Exon. Th. 79, 33 ; Cri. 1300. Wið ðone swíman, nim . . . and cnuca . . . wyrta . . . ofgeót mid wætere . . . nim ðone wǽtan and lafa ðen heáfod, Lchdm, iii. 48, 3. , II. a state of unconsciousness, a swoon :-- Licgan on swíman to lie unconscious, Judth Thw. 21, 22; Jud. 30 - 23, 5 ; Jud. 106. [For to wacken him (Lazarus in the grave) of his suime (swyme), C. M. 14201. Halliwell gives three instances of the word, in the following phrases, to fall in swyme, to lie in swyme, to come as in swyme. (In these four passages swyme rimes with tyme. ) He also gives swimy = giddy in the head, as a Sussex word (swimy or swimy-headed=- giddy, is given as a Surrey word) ; and swimer a hard blow as used in Devonshire. O. Frs. swirna giddiness, swoon : Du. zwijm swoon: Icel. svimi; liggja í svima to lie in a swoon, slá i svima to stun: Dan. svime a swoon; svime-slag a stunning blow. ]
Similar Words

Similar Words

Runic Inscription

Runic Inscription

ᛋᚹᛁᛗᚪ

Possible runic inscription in Anglo-Saxon futhorc

Abbreviations Used

Abbreviations Used

Common Abbreviations

Icel.
Icelandic
O. Frs.
Old Frisian

Works & Authors

C.
Corpus Christi College MS
Cri.
Christ (OE poem by Cynewulf)
Exon.
Exeter Book
Th.
Thorpe, Benjamin (editor)
View All Sources