swarm 1
— swarmer , n.
/swawrm/ , n.
1. a body of honeybees that emigrate from a hive and fly off together, accompanied by a queen, to start a new colony.
2. a body of bees settled together, as in a hive.
3. a great number of things or persons, esp. in motion.
4. Biol. a group or aggregation of free-floating or free-swimming cells or organisms.
5. Geol. a cluster of earthquakes or other geologic phenomena or features.
v.i.
6. to fly off together in a swarm, as bees.
7. to move about, along, forth, etc., in great numbers, as things or persons.
8. to congregate, hover, or occur in groups or multitudes; be exceedingly numerous, as in a place or area.
9. (of a place) to be thronged or overrun; abound or teem: The beach swarms with children on summer weekends.
10. Biol. to move or swim about in a swarm.
v.t.
11. to swarm about, over, or in; throng; overrun.
12. to produce a swarm of.
[ bef. 900; (n.) ME; OE swearm; c. G Schwarm swarm, ON svarmr tumult; (v.) ME swarmen, deriv. of the n. ]
Syn. 3. horde, host, mass. See crowd 1 .
swarm 2
/swawrm/ , v.t. , v.i.
to climb by clasping with the legs and hands or arms and drawing oneself up; shin.
[ 1540-50; orig. uncert. ]