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swoon

 - 3 dictionary results

swoon

  [swoon] ,
Use swoon in a Sentence
–verb (used without object)
1. to faint; lose consciousness.
2. to enter a state of hysterical rapture or ecstasy: The teenagers swooned at the sight of the singing star.
–noun
3. a faint or fainting fit; syncope.
Origin:
1250–1300; (v.) ME swo(w)nen to faint, orig. as ger. swowening, swoghning act of swooning, ult. continuing OE -swōgan (in compounds) to rush, overrun, choke; (n.) ME, partly deriv. of the v., partly extracted from in (a) swoune, on swoune, alter. of a swoune, aswoune in a swoon, as if equiv. to a a- 1 + swoon (n.), but prob. continuing OE āswōgen, ptp. of āswōgan to overcome (see a- 3 ), or geswōgen (ptp.) senseless, dead

Related forms:
swoon⋅ing⋅ly, adverb
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To swoon
swoon   (swōōn)   
intr.v.   swooned, swoon·ing, swoons

  1. To faint.

  2. To be overwhelmed by ecstatic joy.

n.  

  1. A fainting spell; syncope. See Synonyms at blackout.

  2. A state of ecstasy or rapture.


[Middle English swounen, probably from iswowen, in a swoon, from Old English geswōgen, past participle of *swōgan, to suffocate.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

swoon 
c.1290, swogene, probably from O.E. geswogen "in a faint," pp. of a lost verb, perhaps *swogan, as in aswogan "to choke," of uncertain origin. Cf. Low Ger. swogen "to sigh."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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