upswarm

English

Etymology

up- +‎ swarm

Verb

upswarm (third-person singular simple present upswarms, present participle upswarming, simple past and past participle upswarmed)

1. (transitive) To rise in a swarm.
2. (intransitive) To cause to rise in a swarm.
   • c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii]:

     And both against the Peace of Heauen, and him,
     Haue here vp-swarmed them.

   • 1791, Homer, W[illiam] Cowper, transl., The Iliad and Odyssey of Homer, Translated into Blank Verse, […], volumes (please specify |volume=I or II), London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], →OCLC:

     Such was his exhortation; they his voice
     All hearing, with close-order'd ranks direct
     Bore on the barrier, and upswarming show'd
     On the high battlement their glittering spears

References

“upswarm”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• warm-ups, warms up, warmups