See Also: whelm(dictionary)

whelm (iou)



whelm verb & noun. ME.
[Repr. unrecorded Old English verb parallel to WHELVE. Cf. WHEMMEL.]
A. verb.
verb intrans. Overturn, capsize. ME-E16.
verb trans. Turn (a hollow vessel) upside down; esp. place (a hollow vessel) upside down over something as a cover. Now dial. ME.
b. Cover (a thing) with an upside-down vessel. LME-M17.
c. Throw or heap (a thing) over something else, esp. so as to cover or crush it. Foll. by over, upon. E17.
d. verb trans. & intrans. Turn over (soil). M17-L18.
verb intrans. Pass over and cover (a thing) literary. Long rare. LME.
verb trans. Cover with a great mass of water, earth, etc.; submerge, drown, bury; transf. & fig. engulf or destroy like a flood, avalanche, etc.; overpower emotionally. M16.
Tennyson Some were whelmed with missiles of the wall. A. Jessopp Flocks, and herds, and corn and hay being whelmed in the deluge.
b. noun.
A wooden drainpipe, originally made from a hollowed tree-trunk. Long obsolete exc. dial. L16.
A surge (of activity, water, etc.). Chiefly poet. E19.