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ter or other fluid; to cover by immersion in something that envelops on all sides; to overwhelm; to ingulf. She is my prize, or ocean whelm them all! Shak. The whelming billow and the faithless oar. Gay.

bear down; to overpower; to crush; to bury; to oppress, etc., overpoweringly. The sea overwhelmed their enemies. Ps. lxxviii. 53. Fearfulness and trembling are come upon me, and horror hath overwhelmed me. Ps. lv. 5. Foul deeds will rise, Though all the earth o'erwhelm them. Shak. Gaza yet stands; but all her sons are…

Overpowering; irresistible. -- O`ver*whelm"ing*ly, adv.

To swallow up; to engulf; to overwhelm; to cause to disappear as if by swallowing up; to use up; to include. "Dark oblivion soon absorbs them all." Cowper. The large cities absorb the wealth and fashion. W. Irving.

To confound, as by fear, wonder, extreme surprise; to overwhelm with wonder; to astound; to astonish greatly. "Amazing Europe with her wit." Goldsmith. And all the people were amazed, and said, Is not this the son of David Matt. xii. 23.

The condition of being amazed; bewilderment [Obs.]; overwhelming wonder, as from surprise, sudden fear, horror, or admiration. His words impression left Of much amazement. Milton.

Of or pertaining to the isle Atlantis, which the ancients allege was sunk, and overwhelmed by the ocean.

To be crushed, or overwhelmed with sorrow or grief; as, my heart is breaking.

The ocean; the water of an ocean, sea, or salt lake. Not long beneath the whelming brine . . . he lay. Cowper.

A morbid condition caused by an overwhelming shock or extreme fear and marked by rigidity of the muscles. -- Cat`a*plec"tic (#), a.

To overwhelm by argument; to refute conclusively; to prove or show to be false or defective; to overcome; to silence.

To overwhelm; to spread over. The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen. Ex. xiv. 28.

To overwhelm by pressure or weight; to beat or force down, as by an incumbent weight. To crush the pillars which the pile sustain. Dryden. Truth, crushed to earth, shall rise again. Bryant.

That crushes; overwhelming. "The blow must be quick and crushing." Macualay.

Fig.: Anything which overwhelms, or causes great destruction. "The deluge of summer." Lowell. A fiery deluge fed With ever-burning sulphur unconsumed. Milton. As I grub up some quaint old fragment of a [London] street, or a house, or a shop, or tomb or burial ground, which has still survived in the deluge. F. Harrison.…

The state of being overwhelmed in water, or as if in water. Ray.

Loss of courage and firmness through fear; overwhelming and disabling terror; a sinking of the spirits; consternation. I . . . can not think of such a battle without dismay. Macaulay. Thou with a tiger spring dost leap upon thy prey, And tear his helpless breast, o'erwhelmed with wild dismay. Mrs. Barbauld.…

To overwhelm in water; to submerge; to inundate. "They drown the land." Dryden.

one's ear, to be listened to with favor. -- Up to the ears, deeply submerged; almost overwhelmed; as, to be in trouble up to one's ears. [Colloq.]

es, lava, etc., as from a volcano of a fissure in the earth's crust. (b) A sudden and overwhelming hostile movement of armed men from one country to another. Milton. (c) A violent commotion. All Paris was quiet . . . to gather fresh strength for the next day's eruption. W. Irving.