Swarm

• POS: Noun, Verb (usu participle), Verb (intransitive), Verb (transitive)

CIDE DICTIONARY

Swarm, v. i. [Cf. Swerve.].

 To climb a tree, pole, or the like, by embracing it with the arms and legs alternately. See Shin.  [1913 Webster]
"At the top was placed a piece of money, as a prize for those who could swarm up and seize it."  [1913 Webster]

Swarm, n. [OE. swarm, AS. swearm; akin to D. zwerm, G. schwarm, OHG. swaram, Icel. svarmr a tumult, Sw. svärm a swarm, Dan. sværm, and G. schwirren to whiz, to buzz, Skr. svar to sound, and perhaps to E. swear. √177. Cf. Swerve, Swirl.].

•  A large number or mass of small animals or insects, especially when in motion.  Milton.  [1913 Webster]
•  Especially, a great number of honeybees which emigrate from a hive at once, and seek new lodgings under the direction of a queen; a like body of bees settled permanently in a hive.  Chaucer.  [1913 Webster]
•  Hence, any great number or multitude, as of people in motion, or sometimes of inanimate objects; as, a swarm of meteorites.  [1913 Webster]

  "Those prodigious swarms that had settled themselves in every part of it [Italy]."  [1913 Webster]

Syn. -- Multitude; crowd; throng.

Swarm, v. i. 

•  To collect, and depart from a hive by flight in a body; -- said of bees; as, bees swarm in warm, clear days in summer.  [1913 Webster]
•  To appear or collect in a crowd; to throng together; to congregate in a multitude.  Chaucer.  [1913 Webster]
•  To be crowded; to be thronged with a multitude of beings in motion.  [1913 Webster]

  "Every place swarms with soldiers."  [1913 Webster]
•  To abound; to be filled (with).  Atterbury.  [1913 Webster]
•  To breed multitudes.  [1913 Webster]

  "Not so thick swarmed once the soil
  Bedropped with blood of Gorgon."  [1913 Webster]

Swarm, v. t. 

 To crowd or throng.  Fanshawe.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Swarm, n. & v.
--n.
1 a cluster of bees leaving the hive with the queen to establish a new colony.
2 a large number of insects or birds moving in a cluster.
3 a large group of people, esp. moving over or filling a large area.
4 (in pl.; foll. by of) great numbers.
5 a group of zoospores.
--v.intr.
1 move in or form a swarm.
2 gather or move in large numbers.
3 (foll. by with) (of a place) be overrun, crowded, or infested (was swarming with tourists).

Swarm, v.intr. (foll. by up) & tr. climb (a rope or tree etc.), esp. in a rush, by clasping or clinging with the hands and knees etc.

Etymology

16th c.: orig. unkn.

THESAURUS

Swarm

a mass of, a world of, abound, abound with, army, assemble, beset, bevy, bristle with, bunch, bunch up, burst with, charm, clot, cloud, cluster, clutter, collect, come together, congregate, converge, copulate, couple, covey, crawl, crawl with, creep with, crowd, date, drove, emigrate, emigration, expatriate, expatriation, fill, flight, flit, flock, flock together, flocks, flood, flow, flow together, forgather, fuse, gaggle, gang around, gang up, gather, gather around, hail, herd, herd together, hive, horde, host, huddle, immigrate, immigration, in-migrate, in-migration, infest, infestation, intermigrate, intermigration, invade, invasion, jam, know no bounds, large amount, league, legion, link, lots, lousiness, luxuriate, many, mass, masses of, meet, merge, migrate, migration, mill, mob, muchness, multitude, murmuration, muster, nest, numbers, out-migrate, out-migration, overabound, overbrim, overflow, overgrow, overrun, overrunning, overspill, overspread, overspreading, overswarm, overswarming, pack, passage, plague, plurality, pullulate, quantities, quite a few, rally, rally around, ravage, remigrate, remigration, rendezvous, rout, ruck, run, run riot, scores, seethe, shoal, skein, spill over, spring, stream, superabound, surge, swarm with, swarming, take wing, teem, teem with, teeming, throng, throng with, tidy sum, transmigrate, transmigration, trek, unite, watch, worlds of

ROGET THESAURUS

Swarm

Sufficiency

VB be sufficient, suffice, do, just do, satisfy, pass muster, have enough, eat, one's fill, drink one's fill, have one's fill, roll in, swim in, wallow in, wanton, abound, exuberate, teem, flow, stream, rain, shower down, pour, pour in, swarm, bristle with, superabound, render sufficient, replenish, Adj, sufficient, enough, adequate, up to the mark, commensurate, competent, satisfactory, valid, tangible, measured, moderate, full, ample, plenty, plentiful, plenteous, plenty as blackberries, copious, abundant, abounding, replete, enough and to spare, flush, choke-full, chock-full, well-stocked, well- provided, liberal, unstinted, unstinting, stintless, without stint, unsparing, unmeasured, lavish, wholesale, rich, luxuriant, affluent, wantless, big with, unexhausted, unwasted, exhaustless, inexhaustible, Adv, sufficiently, amply.

Redundancy

VB superabound, overabound, know no bounds, swarm, meet one at every turn, creep with, crawl with, bristle with, overflow, run over, flow over, well over, brim over, run riot, overrun, overstock, overlay, overcharge, overdose, overfeed, overburden, overload, overdo, overwhelm, overshoot the mark, surcharge, supersaturate, gorge, glut, load, drench, whelm, inundate, deluge, flood, drug, drug the market, hepatize, choke, cloy, accloy, suffocate, pile up, lay on thick, impregnate with, lavish, send coals to Newcastle, carry coals to Newcastle, carry owls to Athens, teach one's grandmother to suck eggs, pisces natare docere, kill the slain, gild refined gold, gild the lily, butter one's bread on both sides, put butter upon bacon, employ a steam engine to crack a nut, exaggerate, wallow in roll in, remain on one's hands, hang heavy on hand, go a begging.

Assemblage

N assemblage, collection, collocation, colligation, compilation, levy, gathering, ingathering, muster, attroupement, team, concourse, conflux, congregation, contesseration, convergence, meeting, levee, reunion, drawing room, at home, conversazione, assembly, congress, convention, conventicle, gemote, conclave, posse, posse comitatus, Noah's ark, miscellany, collectanea, museum, menagerie, museology, crowd, throng, group, flood, rush, deluge, rabble, mob, press, crush, cohue, horde, body, tribe, crew, gang, knot, squad, band, party, swarm, shoal, school, covey, flock, herd, drove, atajo, bunch, drive, force, mulada, remuda, roundup, array, bevy, galaxy, corps, company, troop, troupe, task force, army, regiment, host, populousness, clan, brotherhood, fraternity, sorority, association, volley, shower, storm, cloud, group, cluster, Pleiades, clump, pencil, set, batch, lot, pack, budget, assortment, bunch, parcel, packet, package, bundle, fascine, fasces, bale, seron, seroon, fagot, wisp, truss, tuft, shock, rick, fardel, stack, sheaf, haycock, fascicle, fascicule, fasciculus, gavel, hattock, stook, accumulation, congeries, heap, lump, pile, rouleau, tissue, mass, pyramid, bing, drift, snowball, snowdrift, acervation, cumulation, glomeration, agglomeration, conglobation, conglomeration, conglomerate, coacervate, coacervation, coagmentation, aggregation, concentration, congestion, omnium gaterum, spicilegium, black hole of Calcutta, quantity, collector, gatherer, whip, whipper in, assembled, closely packed, dense, serried, crowded to suffocation, teeming, swarming, populous, as thick as hops, all of a heap, fasciculated cumulative, the plot thickens, acervatim, tibi seris tibi metis.

VB assemble, collect, muster, meet, unite, join, rejoin, cluster, flock, swarm, surge, stream, herd, crowd, throng, associate, congregate, conglomerate, concentrate, precipitate, center round, rendezvous, resort, come together, flock get together, pig together, forgather, huddle, reassemble, assemble, muster, bring together, get together, put together, draw together, scrape together, lump together, collect, collocate, colligate, get, whip in, gather, hold a meeting, convene, convoke, convocate, rake up, dredge, heap, mass, pile, pack, put up, truss, cram, acervate, agglomerate, aggregate, compile, group, aggroup, concentrate, unite, collect into a focus, bring into a focus, amass, accumulate, collect in a dragnet, heap Ossa upon Pelion.

Multitude

N multitude, numerous, numerosity, numerality, multiplicity, profusion, legion, host, great number, large number, round number, enormous number, a quantity, numbers, array, sight, army, sea, galaxy, scores, peck, bushel, shoal, swarm, draught, bevy, cloud, flock, herd, drove, flight, covey, hive, brood, litter, farrow, fry, nest, crowd, lots, all in the world and his wife, greater number, majority, multiplication, multiple, many, several, sundry, divers, various, not a few, Briarean, a hundred, a thousand, a myriad, a million, a quadrillion, a nonillion, a thousand and one, some ten or a dozen, some forty or fifty, half a dozen, half a hundred, very many, full many, ever so many, numerous, numerose, profuse, in profusion, manifold, multiplied, multitudinous, multiple, multinominal, teeming, populous, peopled, crowded, thick, studded, galore, thick coming, many more, more than one can tell, a world of, no end of, no end to, cum multis aliis, thick as hops, thick as hail, plenty as blackberries, numerous as the stars in the firmament, numerous as the sands on the seashore, numerous as the hairs on the head, and what not, and heaven knows what, endless, their name is 'legion', acervatim, en foule, many- headed multitude, numerous as glittering gems of morning dew, vel prece vel pretio.

VB be numerous, swarm with, teem with, creep with, crowd, swarm, come thick upon, outnumber, multiply, people, swarm like locusts, swarm like bees.