sweal

S1W4E1A1L1
UK/swiːl/

verb

To burn slowly.

OriginMiddle English swelen ← Old English swelan ← Proto-West Germanic *swelan →
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Meanings

verbsweal (third-person singular simple present sweals, present participle swealing, simple past and past participle swealed)

present singular third person sweals · participle present swealing · participle past swealed · past swealed · alternative swale

  1. intransitiveTo burn slowly.
  2. intransitiveTo melt and run down, as the tallow of a candle; waste away without feeding the flame.

    [M]ind ye dinna let the candle sweal as ye gang alang the wainscot parlour, and haud a' the house scouring to get out the grease again.

    1816, Jedadiah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], chapter V, in Tales of My Landlord, […], volume II (Old Mortality), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for William Blackwood, […]; London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, page 104
  3. transitiveTo singe; scorch; dress (as a hog) with burning or singeing.
  4. dialectaltransitiveTo consume with fire; burn.
  5. dialectaltransitiveTo make disappear; cause to waste away; diminish; reduce.

    "He thinks it's only a tumour!" cried Annie to her mother. "And he can sweal it away."

    1913, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “Baxter Dawes”, in Sons and Lovers, London: Duckworth & Co. […], →OCLC, part II, page 377

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
worsen

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*swel-“to shine, warm, smoulder, burn”
  2. Proto-Germanic*swelaną“to smoulder, burn slowly, create a burningly cold sensation”
  3. Proto-West Germanic*swelan
  4. Old Englishswelan“to burn, be burnt up, inflame”
  5. Middle Englishswelen
  6. Englishsweal

From Middle English swelen, from Old English swelan (“to burn, be burnt up, inflame”) (compare Old English swǣlan (“to burn”)), from Proto-West Germanic *swelan, from Proto-Germanic *swelaną (“to smoulder, burn slowly, create a burningly cold sensation”), from Proto-Indo-European *swel- (“to shine, warm, smoulder, burn”). Cognate with Dutch zwelen (“to smoulder”), Low German swelen (“to smoulder”), German schwelen (“to smoulder”), Icelandic svala (“to cool”). Related to swelter.

More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with sweal

realmobilefeeldealsteelappealwheelsealmealNeilrevealreelstealheelpeelhealnealsteelerepealtealsurrealcelalleleLille
All rhymes →

Anagrams

walesswalelawesSlewa
Cite this entry
APA

sweal. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sweal

MLA

“sweal.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sweal. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “sweal,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sweal.

Source: sweal on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.