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swarm

Pronunciation: /swɔɹm/

The English word “swarm” has 10 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. A large number of insects or other bugs (e.g. centipedes), especially when in motion or (for bees) migrating to a new colony.
  2. A mass of people, animals or things in motion or turmoil.
  3. A group of nodes sharing the same torrent in a BitTorrent network.
  4. A number of small earthquakes (or other seismic events) occurring, with no clear cause, in a specific area within a relatively short space of time.

verb

  1. To move as a swarm.
  2. To teem, or be overrun with insects, people, etc.
  3. To fill a place as a swarm.
  4. To overwhelm as by an opposing army.
  5. To climb by gripping with arms and legs alternately.
  6. To breed multitudes.

Etymology

From Middle English swarm, from Old English swearm (“swarm, multitude”), from Proto-West Germanic *swarm, from Proto-Germanic *swarmaz (“swarm, dizziness”), from Proto-Indo-European *swer- (“to buzz, hum”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Swoorm (“swarm”), Dutch zwerm, German Schwarm, Danish sværm, Swedish svärm, Icelandic svarmur (“tumult, swarm”), Latin susurrus (“whispering, humming”),…

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.