— swooningly , adv.
/swoohn/ , v.i.
1. to faint; lose consciousness.
2. to enter a state of hysterical rapture or ecstasy: The teenagers swooned at the sight of the singing star.
n.
3. a faint or fainting fit; syncope.
[ 1250-1300; (v.) ME swo ( w ) nen to faint, orig. as ger. swowening, swoghning act of swooning, ult. continuing OE -swogan (in compounds) to rush, overrun, choke; (n.) ME, partly deriv. of the v., partly extracted from in ( a ) swoune, on swoune, alter. of a swoune, aswoune in a swoon, as if equiv. to a A- 1 + swoon (n.), but prob. continuing OE aswogen, ptp. of aswogan to overcome (see A- 3 ), or geswogen (ptp.) senseless, dead ]