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Showing results for swaddle. Search instead for Unswaddle.
Synonyms

swaddle

American  
[swod-l] / ˈswɒd l /

verb (used with object)

swaddled, swaddling

  1. to bind (an infant, especially a newborn infant) with long, narrow strips of cloth to prevent free movement; wrap tightly with clothes.

  2. to wrap (anything) round with bandages.

noun

  1. a long, narrow strip of cloth used for swaddling or bandaging.

swaddle British  
/ ˈswɒdəl /

verb

  1. to wind a bandage round

  2. to wrap (a baby) in swaddling clothes

  3. to restrain as if by wrapping with bandages; smother

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

noun

  1. swaddling clothes

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

  • unswaddled adjective
  • unswaddling adjective

Etymology

Origin of swaddle

1375–1425; late Middle English, in suadiling (gerund); akin by gradation to Middle English swethel (noun), Old English; swathe 1, -le

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.