wallow

[ wol-oh ]

verb (used without object)

1. to roll about or lie in water, snow, mud, dust, or the like, as for refreshment:

   Goats wallowed in the dust.

2. to live self-indulgently; luxuriate; revel:

   to wallow in luxury; to wallow in sentimentality.

   Synonyms: bask, swim

3. to flounder about; move along or proceed clumsily or with difficulty:

   A gunboat wallowed toward port.

4. to surge up or billow forth, as smoke or heat:

   Waves of black smoke wallowed into the room.

noun

1. an act or instance of wallowing.
2. a place in which animals wallow:

   hog wallow; an elephant wallow.

3. the indentation produced by animals wallowing:

   a series of wallows across the farmyard.

wallow

/ ˈwɒləʊ /

verb

1. (esp of certain animals) to roll about in mud, water, etc, for pleasure
2. to move about with difficulty
3. to indulge oneself in possessions, emotion, etc

   to wallow in self-pity

4. (of smoke, waves, etc) to billow

noun

1. the act or an instance of wallowing
2. a muddy place or depression where animals wallow

Derived Forms

• ˈwallower, noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of wallow¹

before 900; Middle English walwe, Old English wealwian to roll; cognate with Gothic walwjan; akin to Latin volvere

Word History and Origins

Origin of wallow¹

Old English wealwian to roll (in mud); related to Latin volvere to turn, Greek oulos curly, Russian valun round pebble

Example Sentences

I know many people who think to be an artist means you have to suffer, or at least wallow in old miseries.

From The Daily Beast

Amia, Louie's temporary girlfriend, is gone, leaving him to wallow in his heartbreak—at least for a few scenes.

From The Daily Beast

In our film, Emad is using a language that does not wallow in suffering and in that way he becomes a powerful inspiration.

From The Daily Beast

But Romney strikes me as a glass-half-full kind of guy, so let us not wallow in the negatives.

From The Daily Beast

The Wallow is the best known, but not the only, fire now racing through Arizona.

From The Daily Beast

Did you not see his crooked claws when he set the bowl before you, that you might wallow in the debasing drink?

From Project Gutenberg

On the perfect day I have been talking about she hunted up a sunlit puddle and indulged in the first wallow of the season.

From Project Gutenberg

Well, Beatrice selected a spot where a defective drain had left the ground soft and trenched it with a luxurious wallow.

From Project Gutenberg

The willow tree (Welsh helygen), which grows essentially by the water-side, may be connoted with wallow.

From Project Gutenberg

But after a lowly wallow in melancholy, a sudden rise of spirits is always viewed with suspicion by a woman.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• flounder
• lurch
• totter