Definition of "swarm"

swarm

/swɔɹm/

noun
plural swarms
1. A large number of insects, especially when in motion or (for bees) migrating to a new colony.
  Quotations
  […] reſtleſs thoughts, that like a deadly ſwarm / Of Hornets arm'd […] ruſh upon me thronging,
  1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […]”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J. M[acock] for John Starkey […], page 10, lines 19–21
2. A mass of people, animals or things in motion or turmoil.
  Quotations
  those prodigious swarms that had settled themselves in every part of it [Italy]
  1705, J[oseph] Addison, Remarks on Several Parts of Italy, &c. in the Years 1701, 1702, 1703, London: […] Jacob Tonson, […]
3. (computing) A group of nodes sharing the same torrent in a BitTorrent network.
verb
third-person singular simple present swarms, present participle swarming, simple past and past participle swarmed
1. (intransitive) To move as a swarm.
  Quotations
  There is an hour or two, after the passengers have embarked, which is disquieting and fussy. Mail bags, so I understand, are being put on board. Stewards, carrying cabin trunks, swarm in the corridors.
  1915, G[eorge] A. Birmingham [pseudonym; James Owen Hannay], chapter I, in Gossamer, New York, N.Y.: George H. Doran Company
2. (intransitive) To teem, or be overrun with insects, people, etc.
  Quotations
  Every place swarming with soldiers.
  1596 (date written; published 1633), Edmund Spenser, A Vewe of the Present State of Irelande […], Dublin: […] Societie of Stationers, […]; republished as A View of the State of Ireland […] (Ancient Irish Histories), Dublin: […] Society of Stationers, […] Hibernia Press, […] [b]y John Morrison, 1809,
3. (transitive) To fill a place as a swarm.
4. (transitive) To overwhelm as by an opposing army.
  Quotations
  So, yeah. The overall conclusion of the big gunfight being that, if Yamato is able to tackle the Colorados early, then the Japanese probably have a, maybe a sixty-to-sixty-five-percent chance of pulling this off... although you say "pulling it off", it's more a case of "the Japanese are the last battleship standing"; they tend to then just get swarmed by angry Fletchers […]
  2019 March 6, Drachinifel, 37:59 from the start, in The Battle of Samar (Alternate History) - Bring on the Battleships!‎, archived from the original on 20 July 2022
5. To climb by gripping with arms and legs alternately.
  Quotations
  At the top was placed a piece of money, as a prize for those who could swarm up and seize it.
  1784, William Coxe, Travels into Poland, Russia, Sweden and Denmark
  She called out, and a boy came running along. He swarmed up a tree, and presently threw down a ripe nut. Ata pierced a hole in it, and the doctor took a long, refreshing draught.
  1919, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, “chapter 55”, in The Moon and Sixpence, [New York, N.Y.]: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers […]
6. To breed multitudes.
  Quotations
  Not ſo thick ſwarm'd once the Soil / Bedropt with blood of Gorgon,
  1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […]; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, lines 526–527

Definition of "swarm"

swarm

noun

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verb

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