swoon

[swoon]

See more synonyms for swoon on Thesaurus.com

verb (used without object)

to faint; lose consciousness.
to enter a state of hysterical rapture or ecstasy: The teenagers swooned at the sight of the singing star.

noun

a faint or fainting fit; syncope.

Origin of swoon

1250–1300; (v.) Middle English swo(w)nen to faint, orig. as gerund swowening, swoghning act of swooning, ultimately continuing Old English -swōgan (in compounds) to rush, overrun, choke; (noun) Middle English, partly derivative of the v., partly extracted from in (a) swoune, on swoune, alteration of a swoune, aswoune in a swoon, as if equivalent to a a-¹ + swoon (noun), but probably continuing Old English āswōgen, past participle of āswōgan to overcome (see a-³), or geswōgen (past participle) senseless, dead

Related formsswoon·ing·ly, adverbun·swoon·ing, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for swoon

drop, collapse, weaken

Examples from the Web for swoon

Contemporary Examples of swoon

More than anything else, teenagers seemed to swoon over tenderness and vulnerability that the Beatles expressed in their songs.
What Made the Beatles So Big? Diagnosing ‘Beatlemania’
John McMillian
October 31, 2013
Long before he took the stage, the mere mention of his name sent this crowd into a swoon.
Ted’s Excellent Adventure: How Cruz Rocked the Value Voters Summit
Michelle Cottle
October 11, 2013
Like a verbal snake charmer, he could swoon them into missteps, even confessions.
The Private David Frost
John M. Florescu
September 3, 2013
Then Dylan McDermott turns around in an FBI vest and a Dirty Harry attitude, and you swoon.
Fall-Winter TV Preview: Snap Judgments of 2013–14’s New Shows
Jace Lacob, Kevin Fallon
July 16, 2013
Your silky bangs look gorgeous under the lights and your deep brown eyes make me swoon.
Michelle Obama Stranded by Her Man as Barack Goes on a Golfing Weekend
Lauren Ashburn
February 16, 2013

Historical Examples of swoon

All this Barnaby saw with his first clear consciousness after his swoon.
Howard Pyle's Book of Pirates
Howard Pyle
Vanished into the swoon whose blackness encompassed and hid me.
Poems
William D. Howells
I was ready to swoon, not with grief and trouble, but with solid joy and peace.'
Bunyan
James Anthony Froude
Did you drop no word during my swoon that might have led them to suspect?
Victor's Triumph
Mrs. E. D. E. N. Southworth
Private Smith wakened from one swoon only to fall into another.
When the West Was Young
Frederick R. Bechdolt

British Dictionary definitions for swoon

swoon

verb (intr)

a literary word for faint
to become ecstatic

noun

an instance of fainting

Also (archaic or dialect): swound

Derived Formsswooning, adjectiveswooningly, adverb

Word Origin for swoon

Old English geswōgen insensible, past participle of swōgan (unattested except in compounds) to suffocate

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

Word Origin and History for swoon

c.1300, suowne, "state of unconsciousness," probably from Old English geswogen "in a faint," past participle of a lost verb *swogan, as in Old English aswogan "to choke," of uncertain origin. Cf. Low German swogen "to sigh."

c.1200, "to become unconscious," probably from a lost Old English verb *swogan (see swoon (n.)). Related: Swooned; swooning.