swarm Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a moving crowd
    drove; horde.
  2. noun a group of many things in the air or on the ground
    cloud.
    • a swarm of insects obscured the light
    • clouds of blossoms
    • it discharged a cloud of spores
  3. verb be teeming, be abuzz
    teem; pullulate.
    • The garden was swarming with bees
    • The plaza is teeming with undercover policemen
    • her mind pullulated with worries
  4. verb move in large numbers
    teem; stream; pour; pullulate.
    • people were pouring out of the theater
    • beggars pullulated in the plaza

WordNet

Swarm intransitive verb
Etymology
Cf. Swerve.
Definitions
  1. To climb a tree, pole, or the like, by embracing it with the arms and legs alternately. See Shin. Colloq.
    At the top was placed a piece of money, as a prize for those who could swarm up and seize it. W. Coxe.
Swarm noun
Etymology
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.
Definitions
  1. A large number or mass of small animals or insects, especially when in motion. "A deadly swarm of hornets." Milton.
  2. 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. "A swarm of bees." Chaucer.
  3. Hence, any great nimber or multitude, as of people in motion, or sometimes of inanimate objects; as, a swarm of meteorites.
    Those prodigious swarms that had settled themselves in every part of it [Italy]. Addison.
    Syn. -- Multitude; crowd; throng.
Swarm intransitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Swarmed ; present participle & verbal noun Swarming
Definitions
  1. To collect, and depart from a hive by flight in a body; -- said of bees; as, bees swarm in warm, clear days in summer.
  2. To appear or collect in a crowd; to throng together; to congregate in a multitude. Chaucer.
  3. To be crowded; to be thronged with a multitude of beings in motion.
    Every place swarms with soldiers. Spenser.
  4. To abound; to be filled (with). Atterbury.
  5. To breed multitudes.
    Not so thick swarmed once the soil Bedropped with blood of Gorgon. Milton.
Swarm transitive verb
Definitions
  1. To crowd or throng. Fanshawe.

Webster 1913