swirl
verb/swɜːl/
/swɜːrl/
[intransitive, transitive]Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they swirl | /swɜːl/ /swɜːrl/ |
| he / she / it swirls | /swɜːlz/ /swɜːrlz/ |
| past simple swirled | /swɜːld/ /swɜːrld/ |
| past participle swirled | /swɜːld/ /swɜːrld/ |
| -ing form swirling | /ˈswɜːlɪŋ/ /ˈswɜːrlɪŋ/ |
- to move around quickly in a circle; to make something do this
- (+ adv./prep.) The water swirled down the drain.
- A long skirt swirled around her ankles.
- swirling mists
- swirl something (+ adv./prep.) He took a mouthful of water and swirled it around his mouth.
Oxford Collocations DictionarySwirl is used with these nouns as the subject:- cloak
- cloud
- dust
- …
Word Originlate Middle English (originally Scots in the sense ‘whirlpool’): perhaps of Low German or Dutch origin; compare with Dutch zwirrelen ‘to whirl’.Definitions on the go
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