Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- intransitive verb To faint.
- intransitive verb To be overwhelmed by ecstatic joy.
- noun A fainting spell; syncope.
- noun A state of ecstasy or rapture.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The act of swooning, or the state of one who has swooned; a fainting-fit; syncope; lipothymy.
- To faint.
- To steal upon like a swoon; approach like faintness.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A fainting fit; syncope.
- intransitive verb To sink into a fainting fit, in which there is an apparent suspension of the vital functions and mental powers; to faint; -- often with
away .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
faint . - noun An
infatuation - verb dated to
faint , to loseconsciousness - verb to be
overwhelmed byemotion (especiallyinfatuation )
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a spontaneous loss of consciousness caused by insufficient blood to the brain
- verb pass out from weakness, physical or emotional distress due to a loss of blood supply to the brain
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Which is redolent with the central tenets of surrealism that made Lamarkin swoon (“beauty will be convulsive or not at all.”), when it involved a deep awareness of the unconscious, before it became a synonym for indolence and an excuse for the dirty word of indifference.
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The consensus is that Obama's mid-term swoon has begun and the health care bill is going to be the first casualty.
Booker Rising 2010
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Housing sales and prices continue their interminable swoon, which is a serious drag on the overall economy and likely to remain through 2012.
Jerry Jasinowski: A Summer Global Slowdown Jerry Jasinowski 2011
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Whatever her true malady, one thing was perfectly clear: whether her swoon was the press's fault or not, the Michiko-bashing era is over.
Imperial Swoon 2008
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I fall from my chair in a swoon, which is of longer or shorter endurance.
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As he told it, his swoon was a mere untoward incident and hindrance in a spiritual drama, the thrill of which, while he described it, passed even to her.
Robert Elsmere Humphry Ward 1885
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As he told it, his swoon was a mere untoward incident and hindrance in a spiritual drama, the thrill of which, while he described it, passed even to her.
Robert Elsmere Humphry Ward 1885
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This time the swoon was a deathly one, and did not yield easily.
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This time the swoon was a deathly one, and did not yield easily.
Tiger-lilies 1867
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"Fifteen minutes before we left her dead, or in a dead swoon, which is all the same in Greek, and yet he talks of her getting up and going off herself!"
The Midnight Queen May Agnes Fleming 1860
qms commented on the word swoon
For thirsty Cecilia Bethune
There's wine with the luncheon at noon
Then evening cocktails
And (it never fails)
To the couch in a ladylike swoon.
See pass out, faint, syncope, lipothymy.
January 31, 2016