5. To occupy; to take up; to employ.
The necessary provision of the life swallows the greatest part of their time.
Locke. 6. To seize and waste; to exhaust; to consume.
Corruption swallowed what the liberal hand
Of bounty scattered.
Thomson. 7. To retract; to recant; as, to swallow one's opinions. "Swallowed his vows whole." Shak.
8. To put up with; to bear patiently or without retaliation; as, to swallow an affront or insult.
Syn. — To absorb; imbibe; ingulf; engross; consume. See Absorb.
Swallow
(Swal"low), v. i. To perform the act of swallowing; as, his cold is so severe he is unable to
swallow.
Swallow
(Swal"low), n.
1. The act of swallowing.
2. The gullet, or esophagus; the throat.
3. Taste; relish; inclination; liking. [Colloq.]
I have no swallow for it.
Massinger. 4. Capacity for swallowing; voracity.
There being nothing too gross for the swallow of political rancor.
Prof. Wilson. 5. As much as is, or can be, swallowed at once; as, a swallow of water.
6. That which ingulfs; a whirlpool. [Obs.] Fabyan.
