1. Increase in size, magnitude, number, or intensity
   "The music swelled to a crescendo"
    
2. Cause to become swollen
   "The water swells the wood"
    
3. Expand abnormally
   "The bellies of the starving children are swelling"; "His ankle swelled up after he twisted it";
   - swell up, intumesce, tumefy, tumesce, puff
    
4. Become filled with pride, arrogance, or anger
   "The mother was swelling with importance when she spoke of her son";
   - puff up
    
5. Come up (as of feelings and thoughts, or other ephemeral things)
   "Smoke swelled from it";
   - well up
    
6. Come up, as of a liquid
   "Tears swell in her eyes";
   - well

1. The undulating movement of the surface of the open sea
   "The sailors watched the swells roll by";
   - crestless wave
    
2. A rounded elevation (especially one on an ocean floor)
   "The submarine navigated around an undersea swell"
    
3. [informal] A man who is much concerned with his dress and appearance
   "The swell spent hours preening in front of the mirror before attending the social gathering";
   - dandy, dude [informal], fop [archaic], gallant [archaic], beau [archaic], fashion plate, clotheshorse [informal]
    
4. A box or chamber in an organ that contains the reeds or a set of pipes and has shutters that open or shut usually by means of a pedal in order to regulate the volume of musical tone
   "The organist skilfully manipulated the swell box to create dynamic changes in the music";
   - swell box
    
5. A crescendo followed by a decrescendo
   "The orchestra executed a perfect swell, building tension and then releasing it"

1. Excellent
   "he did a swell job";
   - bang-up [N. Amer, informal], bully [informal], corking [Brit, informal], cracking [Brit, informal], dandy [informal], great, groovy [informal], keen, neat, nifty [informal], not bad [informal], peachy, slap-up [informal], smashing [Brit, informal], old, not half bad [informal], grouse [Austral, NZ, informal], ripper [Austral, informal], lovely

Derived forms: swelled, swollen, sweller, swellest, swells, swelling

See also: good

Type of: acquit, act, adult male, arise, bear, behave, bozo [N. Amer, informal], carry, cat [N. Amer, informal], chappie [Brit, informal], come up, comport, conduct, crescendo, deport, develop, do, elevation, expand, geezer [Brit, informal], grow, guy [informal], hombre [N. Amer, informal], increase, man, moving ridge, natural elevation, originate, rise, rise up, sod [informal], spring up, surface, uprise [archaic, literary], wave

Encyclopedia: Swell, Steve