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whelm - 4 dictionary results

whelm

  [hwelm, welm]
Use whelm in a Sentence
–verb (used with object)
1. to submerge; engulf.
2. to overcome utterly; overwhelm: whelmed by misfortune.
–verb (used without object)
3. to roll or surge over something, as in becoming submerged.
Origin:
1250–1300; ME whelme, appar. b. dial. whelve (OE gehwelfan to bend over) and helm 2 (v.) (OE helmian to cover)
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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whelm   (hwělm, wělm)   
tr.v.   whelmed, whelm·ing, whelms
  1. To cover with water; submerge.
  2. To overwhelm.

[Middle English whelmen, to overturn, probably alteration (influenced by helmen, to cover) of whelven, from Old English -hwelfan (as in āhwelfan, to cover over).]
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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Whelm

Whelm\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Whelmed; p. pr. & vb. n. Whelming.] [OE. whelmen to turn over, akin to OE. whelven, AS. whelfan, hwylfan, in ?whylfan, ?whelfan, to overwhelm, cover over; akin to OS. bihwelbian, D. welven to arch, G. w["o]lben, OHG. welben, Icel. hvelfa to overturn; cf. Gr. ? bosom, a hollow, a gulf.]

1. To cover with water or other fluid; to cover by immersion in something that envelops on all sides; to overwhelm; to ingulf.

She is my prize, or ocean whelm them all! --Shak.

The whelming billow and the faithless oar. --Gay.

2. Fig.: To cover completely, as if with water; to immerse; to overcome; as, to whelm one in sorrows. "The whelming weight of crime." --J. H. Newman.

3. To throw (something) over a thing so as to cover it. [Obs.] --Mortimer.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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whelm 
c.1300, probably from a parallel form of O.E. -hwielfan (W.Saxon), -hwelfan (Mercian), in ahwelfan "cover over;" probably altered by association with O.E. helmian "to cover" (see helmet).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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