I. ˈswün verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: Middle English swowenen, swounen, probably back-formation from swowening, swouning swoon — more at swooning
intransitive verb
1.
a. : to suffer partial or total loss of consciousness : faint
perhaps he fell asleep, perhaps he swooned … who could say — Upton Sinclair
b. : to become enraptured : go into ecstasies
the ladies were swooning with joy — Frederick Way
a man … whose mind swooned with apocalyptic splendors — Bernard De Voto
2. : to drift languidly or die away : float , fade
soar and swoop and swoon and glide again — Robert Gibbings
the noise swooned away, the trees were shrouded in a midnight hush — Gwyn Jones
transitive verb
: to cause to swoon
II. noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English swoune, swoun from swounen to swoon
1.
a. : a partial or total loss of consciousness : syncope
when I wakened from the swoon — Sheridan Le Fanu
b. : a state of bewilderment or ecstasy : daze , rapture
sat in a floating swoon of … erotic longing — William Faulkner
2.
a. : a state of suspended animation : torpor
left the author … in a kind of moral and intellectual swoon — Times Literary Supplement
b. obsolete : a deep sleep
3. : a languorous drift
the orchestra goes Neapolitan in a swoon of strings — Claudia Cassidy