Swallow

Part of speech: verb, noun

Pronunciation: /ˈswɒl.əʊ/

Definitions

1. A small, agile bird with a streamlined body and long pointed wings ; to make something pass from the mouth down the throat ; to quietly accept or endure something difficult or unwelcome
2. A type of migratory bird known for swift flight and a forked tail ; the act of causing liquids or solids to move through the throat into the stomach ; to put up with or tolerate something unpleasant without protest
3. A fast-flying insectivorous bird with distinctive forked tail feathers ; the physical process of moving food or drink from the mouth into the body ; to bear or accept an uncomfortable situation or loss

Etymology: The verb and the bird share a surprising origin: the bird's name is not related to the act of swallowing. Its ancestors meant only "swallow" the bird, from Old English "swealwe," which traces back to a Proto-Germanic root shared with German "Schwalbe" and Dutch "zwaluw." The verb, by contrast, comes from Old English "swelgan," meaning to gulp down, and it sits in a family of words for indulgence: German "schwelgen" means to delight or revel, and Dutch "zwelgen" means to carouse or guzzle. The noun for a throat or gullet is older in its sense of a chasm. Old English "swelh" and "swelg" meant a gulf or abyss, and the word was used for whirlpools and eddies, the kind of water that seems to gulp things down. Only later did the sense shift to the body part that does the swallowing, so the throat was named after the sea's pit rather than the other way round.

Synonyms: gulp, ingest, consume, devour, down

Antonyms: spit, regurgitate, eject, reject, INVALID