dwell
pronunciation
How to pronounce dwell in British English:
UK [dwel]
How to pronounce dwell in American English:
US [dwel]
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- Verb:
- think moodily or anxiously about something
- originate (in)
- make one's home or live in
- come back to
Word Origin
- dwell
- dwell: [OE] Dwell has changed its meaning remarkably over the centuries. In Old English it meant ‘confuse, lead astray’. It goes back to a Germanic base *dwel-, *dwal-, *dwul-, which also produced Old English dwola ‘error’, Gothic dwals ‘foolish’, and Old High German gitwelan ‘be stunned’, and beyond that to Indo-European *dhwel-, source of Greek tholós ‘dirt’ and Irish dall ‘blind’.Already by the end of the Old English period, ‘lead astray’ had progressed to ‘hinder, delay’, probably under the influence of the related Old Norse dvelja ‘delay’, and this subsequently developed through ‘linger’ to (in the 13th century) ‘make one’s home in a place’.
- dwell (v.)
- Old English dwellan "to mislead, deceive," originally "to make a fool of, lead astray," from Proto-Germanic *dwelan "to go or lead astray" (cognates: Old Norse dvöl "delay," dvali "sleep;" Middle Dutch dwellen "to stun, make giddy, perplex;" Old High German twellen "to hinder, delay;" Danish dvale "trance, stupor," dvaelbær "narcotic berry," source of Middle English dwale "nightshade"), from PIE *dhwel-, extended form of root *dheu- (1) "dust, cloud, vapor, smoke" (and related notions of "defective perception or wits"). Related to Old English gedweola "error, heresy, madness." Sense shifted in Middle English through "hinder, delay," to "linger" (c. 1200, as still in phrase to dwell upon), to "make a home" (mid-13c.). Related: Dwelled; dwelt; dwells.
Example
- 1. They tend to dwell deep in the forest .
- 2. Certainly he will dwell for a time in kornan 's shadow .
- 3. Do not the spirits who dwell in the ether envy man his pain ?
- 4. Forested mountain slopes rise from the lake 's shore , and wild pandas dwell in the woods .
- 5. That the justices were " thoroughly familiar " with the case , so there was no need to " dwell on the facts . "