wallow
English
Alternative forms
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Pronunciation
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 290: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "UK" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /ˈwɒ.ləʊ/
- Rhymes: -ɒləʊ
Etymology 1
From Middle English walowen, walewen, walwen, welwen, from Old English wealwian (“to wallow, roll”), from Proto-Germanic *walwijaną (“to roll”), from Proto-Indo-European *welw- (“to turn, wind, roll”).
Verb
wallow (third-person singular simple present wallows, present participle wallowing, simple past and past participle wallowed) (intransitive)
- To roll oneself about in something dirty, for example in mud.
- Pigs wallow in the mud.
- (Can we date this quote by Shakespeare and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
- I may wallow in the lily beds.
- To move lazily or heavily in any medium; to flounder.
- To immerse oneself in, to occupy oneself with, metaphorically.
- She wallowed in her misery.
- 1610, Alexander Cooke, Pope Joane, in William Oldys, editor, The Harleian Miscellany: or, A Collection of Scarce, Curious, and Entertaining Pamphlets and Tracts, as well in Manuscript as in Print, Found in the Late Earl of Oxford's Library: Interspersed with Historical, Political, and Critical Notes: With a Table of the Contents, and an Alphabetical Index, volume IV, London: Printed for T[homas] Osborne, in Gray's-Inn, 1744, OCLC 5325177; republished as John Maltham, editor, The Harleian Miscellany; or, A Collection of Scarce, Curious, and Entertaining Pamphlets and Tracts, as well in Manuscript as in Print, Found in the Late Earl of Oxford's Library, Interspersed with Historical, Political, and Critical Notes, volume IV, London: Printed for R. Dutton, 1808–1811, OCLC 30776079, page 95:
- If there bee any lasie fellow, any that cannot away with worke, any that would wallow in pleasures, hee is hastie to be priested. And when hee is made one, and has gotten a benefice, he consorts with his neighbour priests, who are altogether given to pleasures; and then both hee, and they, live, not like Christians, but like epicures; drinking, eating, feasting, and revelling, till the cow come home, as the saying is.
- 1995, The Simpsons Season 7 Episode 1, Who Shot Mr. Burns?, written by Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein:
- With Smithers out of the picture I was free to wallow in my own crapulence.
- To live or exist in filth or in a sickening manner.
- (Can we date this quote by South and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
- God sees a man wallowing in his native impurity.
- 1895, The Review of Reviews (volume 11, page 215)
- The floors are at times inches deep with dirt and scraps of clothing. The whole place wallows with putrefaction. In some of the rooms it would seem that there had not been a breath of fresh air for five years.
- (Can we date this quote by South and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
- (British, Scotland, dialect) To wither; to fade.
Usage notes
In the sense of “to immerse oneself in, to occupy oneself with”, it is almost exclusively used for self-indulgent negative emotions, particularly self-pity. See synonyms for general or positive alternatives, such as revel.
Synonyms
Translations
to roll oneself about, as in mire; to tumble and roll about; to move lazily or heavily in any medium; to flounder; as, swine wallow in the mire
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to immerse oneself in, to occupy oneself with, metaphorically
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to roll; especially, to roll in anything defiling or unclean, as a hog might do to dust its body to relieve the distress of insect biting or cool its body with mud
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to live in filth or gross vice; to disport oneself in a beastly and unworthy manner
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to wither; to fade
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
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Noun
wallow (plural wallows)
- An instance of wallowing.
- A pool of water or mud in which animals wallow, or the depression left by them in the ground.
- 2003, Suzann Ledbetter, A Lady Never Trifles with Thieves:
- Soon, the incessant wind would dry the stenchy wallow to corduroyed cement.
- 2003, Suzann Ledbetter, A Lady Never Trifles with Thieves:
- A kind of rolling walk.
Translations
An instance of wallowing
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A pool of water or mud in which animals wallow
A kind of rolling walk
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
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Etymology 2
(From inflected forms of) Old English wealġ, from Proto-Germanic *walwo-. Cognate with Dutch walg (“disgust”), dialectal Norwegian valg (“tasteless”). Compare waugh.
Adjective
wallow (comparative more wallow, superlative most wallow)
Categories:
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/ɒləʊ
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English lemmas
- English verbs
- English intransitive verbs
- English terms with usage examples
- Requests for date/Shakespeare
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- British English
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