Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- intransitive verb To live as a resident; reside.
- intransitive verb To exist in a given place or state.
- intransitive verb To fasten one's attention on something, especially moodily or persistently: synonym: brood.
- intransitive verb To speak or write at length; expatiate.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun In printing, the brief continuation of pressure in the taking of an impression on a hand-press or an Adams press, supposed to set or fasten the ink more firmly in the paper.
- To linger; delay; continue; stay; remain.
- To abide as a permanent resident; reside; have abode or habitation permanently or for some time.
- To live; be; exist: without reference to place.
- To continue on; occupy a long time with; speak or write about at great length or with great fullness: as, to
dwell on a note in music; to dwell upon a subject. - Synonyms Abide, Sojourn, Continue, etc. See
abide . - To inhabit.
- To place as an inhabitant; plant.
- noun An automatic pause in the action of one part of a machine to enable another part to complete its work; specifically, in a sheet-metal drawing-press, a pause in the motion of one die to enable another to continue its work, or a pause in the motion of the two dies to enhance the effect of their combined pressure.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb rare To inhabit.
- intransitive verb obsolete To delay; to linger.
- intransitive verb To abide; to remain; to continue.
- intransitive verb To abide as a permanent resident, or for a time; to live in a place; to reside.
- intransitive verb to abide in (a place); hence, to depend on.
- intransitive verb to continue long on or in; to remain absorbed with; to stick to; to make much of.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun engineering A period of time in which a system or component remains in a given state.
- noun engineering A brief
pause in the motion of part of amechanism to allow an operation to be completed. - noun electrical engineering A planned
delay in a timed control program. - noun automotive In a petrol engine, the period of time the ignition
points are closed to let current flow through the ignition coil in between each spark. This is measured as an angle in degrees around the camshaft in the distributor which controls the points, for example in a 4-cylinder engine it might be 55° (spark at 90° intervals, points closed for 55° between each). - verb intransitive, now literary To
live ; toreside . - verb intransitive To
linger (on ) a particular thought, idea etc.; to remainfixated (on). - verb intransitive, engineering To be in a given state.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb come back to
- verb think moodily or anxiously about something
- verb inhabit or live in; be an inhabitant of
- verb originate (in)
- verb exist or be situated within
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word dwell.
Examples
-
I. iii.156 (129,8) [dwell in my necessity] To _dwell_ seems in this place to mean the same as to _continue_.
Notes to Shakespeare — Volume 01: Comedies Samuel Johnson 1746
-
KING: As the U.S. footprint in Iraq shrinks, the Army hopes to guarantee troops 30 months of what it calls dwell time between deployments.
-
I've read and enjoyed all thirteen of Carroll's novels, and this one is going right on the shelf with the others, and will occupy the same oft-visited part of my mental landscape wherein dwell his other magical books.
Boing Boing 2008
-
The place in which they do dwell is one in which the working poor, clothed in the stigmatizing uniforms of their menial trades, interrogated, tested, monitored, and policed, trade their civil rights-at the very least, their right to privacy and to free speech-for a not quite subsistence wage.
-
Today, it is another kind of crusade, to protect the sacred places of the earth wherein dwell freedom and justice, and good faith and mercy, and humane and Christian civilization.
-
I would fain dwell on each of these honored names, but must pass on to others no less worthy of honor.
Art and Handicraft in the Woman's Building of the World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893 1894
-
"Tabernacle" for dwell is used to mark that, though still on the earth, they in spirit are hidden
-
For the last several years, our Armed Forces have been plagued by a lack of what is known as dwell time -- the amount of time Soldiers have at home with their families between deployments.
Richard Allen Smith: Afghanistan: A Broken Promise to Military Families 2009
-
For the last several years, our Armed Forces have been plagued by a lack of what is known as dwell time -- the amount of time Soldiers have at home with their families between deployments.
Richard Allen Smith: Afghanistan: A Broken Promise to Military Families 2009
-
For the last several years, our Armed Forces have been plagued by a lack of what is known as dwell time -- the amount of time Soldiers have at home with their families between deployments.
Richard Allen Smith: Afghanistan: A Broken Promise to Military Families 2009
zanshin commented on the word dwell
There are only three words in the English language (I believe) that start with dw. Dwell is but one.
December 12, 2006
sonofgroucho commented on the word dwell
What's the third one?
May 21, 2007
reesetee commented on the word dwell
Dwarf! But I think that count doesn't include slang like dweeb.
May 21, 2007
Telofy commented on the word dwell
According to OED:
dwale, dwalm/dwam, dwang, dwarf, dway-berry, dweeb, dwele, dwell, dwelth, dweomercræft, dwere, (dwerg), dwild, dwile, dwindle, dwine (plus related terms)
September 25, 2009