swallow
verb (used with object)
to take into the stomach by drawing through the throat and esophagus with a voluntary muscular action, as food, drink, or other substances.
had been swallowing
-
past perfect progressiveof swallow.past perfect progressive
Used to describe an action that was ongoing continuously in the past up until another past event interrupted it.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In the evening, at seven o'clock, the sea rolled higher, and the Dane, by means of the greater agitation, eliminated enough of what he had been swallowing to make room for a great deal more.
From Biographia Literaria by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
The lawyer made his way up the aisle and disappeared through the door which all the morning had been swallowing one small offender after another.
From Calvary Alley by Alice Caldwell Hegan Rice
They went into the larger wall-garden and walked along the wide herbaceous borders through a blaze of snapdragons that here all day had been swallowing the sunshine.
From Plashers Mead A Novel by Compton MacKenzie
Their faces glared, and their mouths gaped open with glistening teeth, as if they had been swallowing water.
From Weird Tales from Northern Seas by R. Nisbet (Robert Nisbet) Bain
She would have spoken sooner, but she had been swallowing down the rising tears.
From Under False Pretences A Novel by Adeline Sergeant
