whelm

Whelm is a verb meaning to engulf, submerge, or bury beneath a large amount of material or liquid; to overwhelm or overpower. It can be transitive (to whelm something) or intransitive (to be whelmed). The core sense emphasizes being overtaken by a force such as water, snow, a crowd, or emotion, often suddenly or completely.

In nautical and architectural contexts, whelm describes being overwhelmed by liquid or flooding. A ship may be whelmed by a heavy sea, or a cellar may be whelmed with floodwater. In figurative use, one may be whelmed by grief, confusion, or responsibility; however, such emotional use is now largely literary or archaic, and overwhelm is far more common in contemporary English.

Origin uncertain; whelm appears in Middle English and is chiefly found in older texts. In modern usage, whelm survives mainly in historical writing, nautical narratives, and stylistic prose as a less common synonym of overwhelm or submerge.

See also overwhelm, submerge, inundate, flood.