| 1. | to take into the stomach by drawing through the throat and esophagus with a voluntary muscular action, as food, drink, or other substances. |
| 2. | to take in so as to envelop; withdraw from sight; assimilate or absorb: He was swallowed by the crowd. |
| 3. | to accept without question or suspicion. |
| 4. | to accept without opposition; put up with: to swallow an insult. |
| 5. | to accept for lack of an alternative: Consumers will have to swallow new price hikes. |
| 6. | to suppress (emotion, a laugh, a sob, etc.) as if by drawing it down one's throat. |
| 7. | to take back; retract: to swallow one's words. |
| 8. | to enunciate poorly; mutter: He swallowed his words. |
| 9. | to perform the act of swallowing. |
| 10. | the act or an instance of swallowing. |
| 11. | a quantity swallowed at one time; a mouthful: Take one swallow of brandy. |
| 12. | capacity for swallowing. |
| 13. | Also called crown, throat. Nautical, Machinery. the space in a block, between the groove of the sheave and the shell, through which the rope runs. |

| 1. | any of numerous small, long-winged passerine birds of the family Hirundinidae, noted for their swift, graceful flight and for the extent and regularity of their migrations. Compare bank swallow, barn swallow, martin. |
| 2. | any of several unrelated, swallowlike birds, as the chimney swift. |

swallow
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swallow swal·low (swŏl'ō)
v. swal·lowed, swal·low·ing, swal·lows
To pass something, as food or drink, through the mouth and throat into the stomach.
Swallow
(1.) Heb. sis (Isa. 38:14; Jer. 8:7), the Arabic for the swift, which "is a regular migrant, returning in myriads every spring, and so suddenly that while one day not a swift can be seen in the country, on the next they have overspread the whole land, and fill the air with their shrill cry." The swift (cypselus) is ordinarily classed with the swallow, which it resembles in its flight, habits, and migration. (2.) Heb. deror, i.e., "the bird of freedom" (Ps. 84:3; Prov. 26:2), properly rendered swallow, distinguished for its swiftness of flight, its love of freedom, and the impossibility of retaining it in captivity. In Isa. 38:14 and Jer. 8:7 the word thus rendered ('augr) properly means "crane" (as in the R.V.).
swallow
In addition to the idioms beginning with swallow, also see bitter pill to swallow.