MAELSTROM


Meaning of MAELSTROM in English

ˈmālztrəm, -lst- also -lzˌträm or -lˌsträm noun

( -s )

Etymology: obsolete Dutch (now maalstroom ), from malen to grind, turn (from Middle Dutch) + strom stream, from Middle Dutch strōm; akin to Old High German malan to grind, and to Old High German stroum, strōm stream — more at meal , stream

1. : a powerful often destructive water current that usually moves in a circular direction with extreme rapidity sucking in objects within a given radius : whirlpool

tried to shoot the canoe across a stretch of treacherous maelstrom — Harper's

2. : something resembling a maelstrom

the ancient taboos were gone, lost in the maelstrom of war — Coulton Waugh

childhood playmates in the country … later separated in the maelstrom of city life — J.D.Hart

couldn't fuse his thoughts out of the maelstrom of thinking — Herbert Elliston

Webster's New International English Dictionary.      Новый международный словарь английского языка Webster.