-
Notifications
You must be signed in to change notification settings - Fork 3
Meaning: swell
Hans-Jörg Bibiko edited this page Mar 13, 2020
·
4 revisions
His arm swelled after he was injured.
- The default intransitive verb for swell, as would be used in the prototypical context of a part of the human body swelling after an injury.
- Many languages may extend the same generic lexeme to other contexts (as with English swell). Do not, however, enter additional lexemes that are specific to other senses and contexts, including notably:
- Verbs specific to inflate, i.e. swelling because of air (or some other gas or liquid). The target lexeme in French is thus not gonfler but enfler, as would be used of an injured part of the body.
- Verbs specific to breathing in to fill the lungs with air, rather than the target sense of a part of the body swelling after an injury.
- Verbs specific to dry things, e.g. rice or other dry foods, ‘swelling’ as they soak up water.
- Verbs specific to a swelling stomach due to illness or to consuming (large amounts of) food or drink.
- Terms that are not neutral but bear value judgements of excess: e.g. bloat.
- Enter the term in basic vocabulary, of the default register. Avoid specialised medical terms, slang, etc..