swamp

swamp
    n 1: low land that is seasonally flooded; has more woody plants
         than a marsh and better drainage than a bog [syn: {swamp},
         {swampland}]
    2: a situation fraught with difficulties and imponderables; "he
       was trapped in a medical swamp"
    v 1: drench or submerge or be drenched or submerged; "The
         tsunami swamped every boat in the harbor" [syn: {swamp},
         {drench}]
    2: fill quickly beyond capacity; as with a liquid; "the basement
       was inundated after the storm"; "The images flooded his mind"
       [syn: {deluge}, {flood}, {inundate}, {swamp}]
    

Swamp \Swamp\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Swamped}; p. pr. & vb. n.
   {Swamping}.]
   1. To plunge or sink into a swamp.
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   2. (Naut.) To cause (a boat) to become filled with water; to
      capsize or sink by whelming with water.
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   3. Fig.: To plunge into difficulties and perils; to
      overwhelm; to ruin; to wreck.
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            The Whig majority of the house of Lords was swamped
            by the creation of twelve Tory peers. --J. R. Green.
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            Having swamped himself in following the ignis fatuus
            of a theory.                          --Sir W.
                                                  Hamilton.
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Swamp \Swamp\, n. [Cf. AS. swam a fungus, OD. swam a sponge, D.
   zwam a fungus, G. schwamm a sponge, Icel. sv["o]ppr, Dan. &
   Sw. swamp, Goth. swamms, Gr. somfo`s porous, spongy.]
   Wet, spongy land; soft, low ground saturated with water, but
   not usually covered with it; marshy ground away from the
   seashore.
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         Gray swamps and pools, waste places of the hern.
                                                  --Tennyson.
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         A swamp differs from a bog and a marsh in producing
         trees and shrubs, while the latter produce only
         herbage, plants, and mosses.             --Farming
                                                  Encyc. (E.
                                                  Edwards,
                                                  Words).
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   {Swamp blackbird}. (Zool.) See {Redwing}
   (b) .

   {Swamp cabbage} (Bot.), skunk cabbage.

   {Swamp deer} (Zool.), an Asiatic deer ({Rucervus Duvaucelli})
      of India.

   {Swamp hen}. (Zool.)
   (a) An Australian azure-breasted bird ({Porphyrio bellus});
       -- called also {goollema}.
   (b) An Australian water crake, or rail ({Porzana Tabuensis});
       -- called also {little swamp hen}.
   (c) The European purple gallinule.

   {Swamp honeysuckle} (Bot.), an American shrub ({Azalea
      viscosa} syn. {Rhododendron viscosa} or {Rhododendron
      viscosum}) growing in swampy places, with fragrant flowers
      of a white color, or white tinged with rose; -- called
      also {swamp pink} and {white swamp honeysuckle}.

   {Swamp hook}, a hook and chain used by lumbermen in handling
      logs. Cf. {Cant hook}.

   {Swamp itch}. (Med.) See {Prairie itch}, under {Prairie}.

   {Swamp laurel} (Bot.), a shrub ({Kalmia glauca}) having small
      leaves with the lower surface glaucous.

   {Swamp maple} (Bot.), red maple. See {Maple}.

   {Swamp oak} (Bot.), a name given to several kinds of oak
      which grow in swampy places, as swamp Spanish oak
      ({Quercus palustris}), swamp white oak ({Quercus
      bicolor}), swamp post oak ({Quercus lyrata}).

   {Swamp ore} (Min.), bog ore; limonite.

   {Swamp partridge} (Zool.), any one of several Australian game
      birds of the genera {Synoicus} and {Excalfatoria}, allied
      to the European partridges.

   {Swamp robin} (Zool.), the chewink.

   {Swamp sassafras} (Bot.), a small North American tree of the
      genus {Magnolia} ({Magnolia glauca}) with aromatic leaves
      and fragrant creamy-white blossoms; -- called also {sweet
      bay}.

   {Swamp sparrow} (Zool.), a common North American sparrow
      ({Melospiza Georgiana}, or {Melospiza palustris}), closely
      resembling the song sparrow. It lives in low, swampy
      places.

   {Swamp willow}. (Bot.) See {Pussy willow}, under {Pussy}.
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Swamp \Swamp\, v. i.
   1. To sink or stick in a swamp; figuratively, to become
      involved in insuperable difficulties.
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   2. To become filled with water, as a boat; to founder; to
      capsize or sink; figuratively, to be ruined; to be
      wrecked.
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137 Moby Thesaurus words for "swamp":
      baygall, be prodigal with, bind, bog, bottom, bottomland, bottoms,
      buffalo wallow, cascade, cataract, cesspool, cloaca, cloaca maxima,
      clutch, complication, crunch, deluge, dip, drain, drown, duck,
      dump, dunk, embarrassing position, embarrassment, engulf,
      everglade, fen, fenland, fine how-do-you-do, float, flood,
      flood the market, flow on, founder, garbage dump, glade,
      hell to pay, hobble, hog wallow, holm, hot water, how-do-you-do,
      imbroglio, immerse, inundate, jam, marais, marish, marsh,
      marshland, meadow, mere, mess, mire, mix, moor, moorland, morass,
      moss, mud, mud flat, overbrim, overburden, overcome, overdose,
      overequip, overflow, overfurnish, overlavish, overload,
      overprovender, overprovide, overprovision, overrun, oversell,
      overstock, oversupply, overtax, overwhelm, parlous straits, pass,
      peat bog, pickle, pinch, plight, pour on, pour out, pour over,
      predicament, pretty pass, pretty pickle, pretty predicament,
      purgatory, quag, quagmire, quicksand, rain, run over, salt marsh,
      scrape, scuttle, septic tank, sewer, shaking, sink, slob land,
      slop, slosh, slough, sluice, snow under, sough, spill, spill out,
      spill over, spot, squeeze, stew, sticky wicket, strait, straits,
      submerge, sump, swale, swampland, sweep, taiga, tight spot,
      tight squeeze, tightrope, tricky spot, unholy mess, view, wallow,
      wash, whelm