swarm

¹ American  

[swawrm] / swɔrm /

noun

1. a body of honeybees that emigrate from a hive and fly off together, accompanied by a queen, to start a new colony.

2. a body of bees settled together, as in a hive.

3. a great number of things or persons, especially in motion.

   Synonyms:

   mass, host, horde

4. Biology. a group or aggregation of free-floating or free-swimming cells or organisms.

5. Geology. a cluster of earthquakes or other geologic phenomena or features.

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verb (used without object)

1. to fly off together in a swarm, as bees.

2. to move about, along, forth, etc., in great numbers, as things or persons.

3. to congregate, hover, or occur in groups or multitudes; be exceedingly numerous, as in a place or area.

4. (of a place) to be thronged or overrun; abound or teem.

   The beach swarms with children on summer weekends.

5. Biology. to move or swim about in a swarm.

verb (used with object)

1. to swarm about, over, or in; throng; overrun.

2. to produce a swarm of.

swarm ² American  

[swawrm] / swɔrm /

verb (used with or without object)

1. to climb by clasping with the legs and hands or arms and drawing oneself up; shin.

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swarm ¹ British  

/ swɔːm /

noun

1. a group of social insects, esp bees led by a queen, that has left the parent hive in order to start a new colony

2. a large mass of small animals, esp insects

3. a throng or mass, esp when moving or in turmoil

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verb

1. (intr) (of small animals, esp bees) to move in or form a swarm

2. (intr) to congregate, move about or proceed in large numbers

3. to overrun or be overrun (with)

   the house swarmed with rats

4. (tr) to cause to swarm

swarm ² British  

/ swɔːm /

verb

1. to climb (a ladder, etc) by gripping with the hands and feet

   the boys swarmed up the rigging

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Related Words

See crowd ¹.

Other Word Forms

• swarmer noun

Etymology

Origin of swarm¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English swearm; cognate with German Schwarm swarm, Old Norse svarmr “tumult”; the verb is derivative of the noun

Origin of swarm²

First recorded in 1540–50; origin uncertain

Example Sentences

The floor tilts, and my head buzzes like a swarm of bees has been let loose from its hive.

From Literature

During the swarming he says the queens mate with several males.

From BBC

Arm Holdings foresees significant demand for its chips as swarms of intelligent agents require ever-more processing capacity.

From The Wall Street Journal

"That kind of feedback may be important in animal societies, engineered swarms and other distributed systems where the quality of information can rise or fall with audience dynamics."

From Science Daily

This incident comes after an episode this month in Paris when the singer filmed herself in selfie mode as a swarm of people shouted behind her.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• congregate
• crawl
• flock
• gather
• overrun
• stream
• teem
• throng