noun

1. any of a family (Hirundinidae) of small, swift-flying, insect-eating passerine birds with long, pointed wings and a forked tail, including the barn swallow and purple martin: most species migrate, often between widely separated summer and winter homes
2. any of various birds resembling swallows, as certain swifts

Etymology: ME swalwe < OE swealwe, akin to Ger schwalbe, ON svala, swallow, & prob. Russ solovyej, Czech slavík, nightingale

transitive verb

1. to pass (food, drink, etc.) from the mouth through the gullet or esophagus into the stomach, usually by a series of muscular actions in the throat
2. to take in; absorb; engulf; envelop: often with up
3. to take back (words said); retract; withdraw
4. to put up with; tolerate; bear humbly to swallow an insult
5. to refrain from expressing; hold back; suppress to swallow one's pride
6. to utter (words) indistinctly
7. Informal to accept as true without question; receive gullibly

Etymology: ME swolwen < OE swelgan, akin to Ger schwelgen < IE base *swel-, to devour > swill

intransitive verb

noun

1. the act of swallowing
2. the amount swallowed at one time
3. Now Chiefly Brit. the throat or gullet
4. Naut. the opening in a block or pulley through which the rope runs