Alexander Schmidt, Shakespeare Lexicon and Quotation Dictionary

Swell, vb. (impf. swelled; partic. “swelled:” Wiv. III, 5, 18. H4B II, 3, 63. Cymb. V, 5, 162. swollen or “swoln:” Ven. 325. Tp. II, 1, 117. H4A II, 4, 496. H4B Ind. H4A II, 4, 496 Mcb. IV, 3, 151) 1) trans. to make bigger, to make tumid, to cause to rise (as waves): “the water --s a man,” Wiv. III, 5, 16. “when I had been --ed,” Wiv. III, 5, 16 “bids the wind . . . s. the curled waters 'bove the main,” Lr. III, 1, 6. “s. his sail with thine own powerful breath,” Oth. II, 1, 78. Metaphorically, == to inflate: “where great additions swell's, and virtue none,” All's II, 3, 134 (swell us? or subst.?). “if it did . . . s. my thoughts to any strain of pride,” H4B IV, 5, 171. “beauty that made barren the --ed boast of him that best could speak,” Cymb. V, 5, 162. == to inflate with anger: “not to s. our spirit, he shall be executed presently,” Tim. III, 5, 102.
2) intr. a) to grow bigger, to grow turgid: “all swoln with chafing,” Ven. 325. “whose --ing dugs do ache,” Ven. 325 “that swollen parcel of dropsies,” H4A II, 4, 496. “ten thousand --ing toads,” Tit. II, 3, 101. “people swoln and ulcerous,” Mcb. IV, 3, 151. “'twould appear by external --ing,” Ant. V, 2, 349. Applied to women with child: “Polixenes has made thee s. thus,” Wint. II, 1, 62. the big year, swoln with some other grief, is thought with child by the stern tyrant war, H4B Ind. Wint. II, 1, 62 “unless it s. past hiding,” Troil. I, 2, 294.
Used of waters, == to rise above the ordinary level, or to be agitated and driven into waves: “a river stayed . . . --eth with more rage,” Ven. 332. “my uncontrolled tide . . . --s the higher by this let,” Lucr. 646. “their understanding begins to s., and the approaching tide will shortly fill the reasonable shore,” Tp. V, 80. “so high above his limits --s the rage of Bolingbroke,” R2 III, 2, 109. “'tis with my mind as with the tide --ed up unto his height,” H4B II, 3, 63. “my sea shall s. so much the higher by their ebb,” H6C IV, 8, 56. “the higher Nilus --s, the more it promises,” Ant. II, 7, 23. “Cydnus --ed above the banks,” Cymb. II, 4, 71. “whose waves to imitate the battle sought with --ing ridges,” Lucr. 1439. “breasted the surge most swoln,” Tp. II, 1, 117. “the --ing Adriatic seas,” Shr. I, 2, 74. “float upon the --ing tide,” John II, 74. “the waters s. before a boisterous storm,” R3 II, 3, 44. “the ocean --s not so as Aaron storms,” Tit. IV, 2, 139. “I have seen the ambitious ocean s.” Caes. I, 3, 7. “s. billow,” V, 1, 67.
In a sense half physical, half moral (cf. below): who (the pillow), “therefore angry, seems to part in sunder, --ing on either side to want his bliss,” Lucr. 389. they (his veins) “s. in their pride,” Lucr. 389 “emptying our bosoms of their counsel --ed,” Mids. I, 1, 216 (i. e. brimful of secrets. O. Edd. sweld, M. Edd. sweet). “--est thou, proud heart?” R2 III, 3, 140. “here he comes, --ing like a turkey-cock,” H5 V, 1, 15. “from that spring whence comfort seemed to come, discomfort --s,” Mcb. I, 2, 28. “how this mother --s up toward my heart,” Lr. II, 4, 56. “s., bosom, with thy fraught,” Oth. III, 3, 449. “the silken tackle s. with the touches of those hands,” Ant. II, 2, 215. “Caesar's ambition, which --ed so much that it did almost stretch the sides o'the world,” Cymb. III, 1, 50.
b) to rise and increase gradually, to gather and grow: “the maid with --ing drops gan wet her circled eyne,” Lucr. 1228. “the tears that s. in me,” LLL IV, 3, 36. “these --ing heavens,” H4A III, 1, 202 (i. e. eyes filling with tears). “that same dew, which sometime on the buds was wont to s. like round and orient pearls,” Mids. IV, 1, 59. “the summer-swelling flower,” Gent. II, 4, 162. cf. above: Tp. V, 80.
c) Followed by with, == to be full of: “flowing and --ing o'er with arts and exercise,” Troil. IV, 4, 80. “thy verse --s with stuff so fine and smooth,” Tim. V, 1, 87. cf. above: Mids. I, 1, 216.
d) In a metaphorical and moral sense, == 1) to grow in the mind and fill the soul: “--ing passion doth provoke a pause,” Ven. 218. “in my heart the strong and --ing evil of my conception,” Meas. II, 4, 6. “the unseen grief that --s with silence in the tortured soul,” R2 IV, 298. “my mildness hath allayed their --ing griefs,” H6C IV, 8, 42. “here no envy --s,” Tit. I, 153. cf. above: Mcb. I, 2, 28. Cymb. III, 1, 50. 2) to be inflated: “imagined worth holds in his blood such swoln and hot discourse,” Troil. II, 3, 183. “noble --ing spirits,” Oth. II, 3, 57 (cf. “--ing like a turkey-cock,” H5 V, 1, 15; and Ant. II, 2, 215). Hence --ing == grand, pompous, magnificent: “a more --ing port than my faint means would grant continuance,” Merch. I, 1, 124. “monarchs to behold the --ing scene,” Merch. I, 1, 124. “as happy prologues to the --ing act of the imperial theme,” Mcb. I, 3, 128. 3) to be inflated with anger or passion: to stubborn spirits they (the hearts of princes) “s.” H8 III, 1, 164. “the --ing difference of your settled hate,” R2 I, 1, 201. “from envious malice of thy --ing heart,” H6A III, 1, 26. “these --ing wrong-incensed peers,” R3 II, 1, 51. “the venomous malice of my --ing heart,” Tit. V, 3, 13. cf. above: Lucr. 389. Lucr. 389 R2 III, 2, 109. III, 3, 140. Oth. III, 3, 449.