tympanic (iou) and swallow (iou)

tympanic (iou)

tympanic adjective & noun. E19.
[from TYMPAN(UM + -IC.]
A. adjective.
Anatomy & Zoology. Of, pertaining to, or connected with the tympanum or the eardrum; of the Nature of a tympanum. E19.
tympanic bone in mammals, a bone of annular or tubular form supporting the eardrum and surrounding part of the external auditory meatus, in the adult forming part of the temporal bone; in lower vertebrates, any of several bones supposed to be homologous with this, esp. the quadrate. tympanic cavity the cavity of the middle ear. tympanic membrane the eardrum.
Pertaining to or resembling a drum; Medicine tympanitic. rare. L19.
Of or pertaining to an architectural tympanum. E20.
b. noun. A tympanic bone. M19.

swallow (iou)

swallow verb.
[Old English swelgan = Old Saxon (far)swelgan, Old High German swel(a)han (Dutch zwelgen, German schwelgen), Old Norse svelga, from Germanic strong verb from base also of SWALLOW noun2.]
a. verb trans. Take (Food etc.) into the stomach through the throat and gullet. Also gen. (now poet.), eat, drink. Also foll. by down, in, up. OE.
J. G. Cozzens He swallowed it in three gulps. E. Mittelholzer They made him swallow..the tablets. M. Lavin He swallowed down the last of his coffee. P. Quillin Gas can be caused by..swallowing air with the Food.
b. verb intrans. Take Food etc. into the stomach through the throat and gullet; perform the muscular movement of the oesophagus required to do this. LME.
R. L. Stevenson He kept swallowing as if he felt..a lump in the throat. J. Steinbeck Lennie stopped chewing and swallowed. M. Keane Professional..tasters..practically gargling wines before either swallowing or spitting.
verb trans. Of a thing: cause (something) to disappear in its interior or depths; engulf. Freq. foll. by up. ME.
G. Greene The muskeg, the swamps deep enough to swallow whole trains. B. Emecheta Thick forests seemed..about to swallow them up. G. Naylor You could almost be swallowed up in the red cushions on those seats. Times The beloved machine has 'swallowed' your card.
verb trans.
a. Destroy, consume, cause to vanish. Freq. foll. by up. ME.
G. Stein He swallowed all Anna's savings fixing up this house. J. P. Hennessy Any profit the..farmland might make would be swallowed up by Lord Northwick. D. May Every moment swallowed up and forgotten.
b. Incorporate; absorb; engross, occupy wholly. Now only foll. by up. ME.
R. Kipling He fell to work..and was swallowed up in the..joy of creation. P. Mailloux Franz's interest in socialism..was..swallowed up by his terrible anxiety.
c. Eagerly take in the sense of, listen avidly to. arch. LME.
d. Appropriate (a territory etc.); annex. Usu. foll. by up. M17.
F. E. Gretton The hamlet of Horn, now swallowed up in the Park.
e. Foll. by up: traverse (a distance) rapidly. (Cf. DEVOUR 5.) L19.
verb trans. Accept without opposition or protest; submit to, accept meekly (an insult, injury, etc). L16.
Banker CSFB had to swallow over $15 million of losses. Business Passengers..might find our statement..that British Rail is 'quite good' difficult to swallow.
verb trans. Believe unquestioningly. L16.
P. G. Wodehouse Mrs. Gedge..had swallowed his story, hook, line, and sinker. H. L. Mencken They swallowed..imbecilities against all the known evidence.
verb trans. Retract, recant. L16.
verb trans. Refrain from expressing (a feeling); refrain from uttering; repress. M17.
Scott Fitzgerald Mr. Wolfsheim swallowed a new sentence he was starting and lapsed into..abstraction. A. F. Loewenstein She'd done her best to swallow her anger and be nice to Ruth. M. Warner I must swallow my pride, and overcome my fear.
verb trans. Pronounce indistinctly, slur. L18.
Phrases: swallow a camel: see CAMEL 1. swallow bobby Austral. slang make a false affidavit, customs declaration, etc. have swallowed the dictionary: see DICTIONARY 1a.
swallowable adjective E19.
swallower noun (a) a person who or thing which swallows; (b) spec. a deep-sea fish of the family Chiasmodontidae having an immensely distensible stomach which enables it to swallow fishes larger than itself, esp. (more fully
black swallower) Chiasmodon niger of the Atlantic: OE.

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