Whelm
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
(Redirected from Overwhelm)
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To bury, to cover; to engulf, to submerge.
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Etymology
From Middle English whelmen (“to turn over, capsize; to invert, turn upside down”), perhaps from Old English *hwealmnian, a variant of *hwealfnian, from hwealf (“arched, concave, vaulted; an arched or vaulted ceiling”), from Proto-Germanic *hwalbą (“arch, vault”), from Proto-Indo-European *kʷelp- (“to curve”). The English word is cognate with German Walm (“a vaulted roof”), Icelandic hvolf (“vaulted ceiling”), Dutch welven (“to arch”), German wölben (“to bend, curve; to arch”), Icelandic hvelfa (“to overturn”), Old Saxon bihwelvian (“to cover; to hide”), Ancient Greek κόλπος (kólpos, “bosom, hollow, gulf”).
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Overwhelm
- To engulf, surge-over and submerge
- The dinghy was overwhelmed by the great wave.
- To overpower, crush
- In December 1939 the Soviet Union attacked Finland with overwhelming force.
- To overpower emotionally
- He was overwhelmed with guilt.
- Joy overwhelmed her when she realized that she had won a million dollars.
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