[swarm] n [ME, fr. OE swearm; akin to OHG swaram swarm and prob. to L susurrus hum] (bef. 12c) 1 a (1): a great number of honeybees emigrating together from a hive in company with a queen to start a new colony elsewhere (2): a colony of honeybees settled in a hive b: an aggregation of free-floating or free-swimming unicellular organisms--usu. used of zoospores
2. a: a large number of animate or inanimate things massed together and usu. in motion: throng "~s of sightseers" "a ~ of locusts" "a ~ of meteors" b: a number of similar geological features or phenomena close together in space or time "a ~ of dikes" "an earthquake ~"
[2]swarm vi (14c) 1: to form and depart from a hive in a swarm
2. a: to move or assemble in a crowd: throng b: to hover about in the manner of a bee in a swarm
3: to contain a swarm: teem ~ vt 1: to fill with a swarm
2: to beset or surround in a swarm "players ~ing the quarterback" -- swarm.er n [3]swarm vb [origin unknown] vi (14c): to climb with the hands and feet; specif: shin "~ up a pole" ~ vt: to climb up: mount