GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English

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1.       
   Swamp , n. [Cf. AS. swam a fungus, OD. swam a sponge, D. zwam a fungus, G. schwamm a sponge, Icel. svöppr, Dan. & Sw. swamp, Goth. swamms, Gr. σομφός porous, spongy.] Wet, spongy land; soft, low ground saturated with water, but not usually covered with it; marshy ground away from the seashore.
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   Gray swamps and pools, waste places of the hern.
   Tennyson.
   
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   A swamp differs from a bog and a marsh in producing trees and shrubs, while the latter produce only herbage, plants, and mosses.
   Farming Encyc. (E. Edwards, Words).
   
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   Swamp blackbird. (Zool.) See Redwing (b). -- Swamp cabbage (Bot.), skunk cabbage. -- Swamp deer (Zool.), an Asiatic deer (Rucervus Duvaucelli) of India. -- Swamp hen. (Zool.) (a) An Australian azure-breasted bird (Porphyrio bellus); -- called also goollema. (b) An Australian water crake, or rail (Porzana Tabuensis); -- called also little swamp hen. (c) The European purple gallinule. -- Swamp honeysuckle (Bot.), an American shrub (Azalea viscosa syn. Rhododendron viscosa or Rhododendron viscosum) growing in swampy places, with fragrant flowers of a white color, or white tinged with rose; -- called also swamp pink and white swamp honeysuckle. -- Swamp hook, a hook and chain used by lumbermen in handling logs. Cf. Cant hook. -- Swamp itch. (Med.) See Prairie itch, under Prairie. -- Swamp laurel (Bot.), a shrub (Kalmia glauca) having small leaves with the lower surface glaucous. -- Swamp maple (Bot.), red maple. See Maple. -- Swamp oak (Bot.), a name given to several kinds of oak which grow in swampy places, as swamp Spanish oak (Quercus palustris), swamp white oak (Quercus bicolor), swamp post oak (Quercus lyrata). -- Swamp ore (Min.), bog ore; limonite. -- Swamp partridge (Zool.), any one of several Australian game birds of the genera Synoicus and Excalfatoria, allied to the European partridges. -- Swamp robin (Zool.), the chewink. -- Swamp sassafras (Bot.), a small North American tree of the genus Magnolia (Magnolia glauca) with aromatic leaves and fragrant creamy-white blossoms; -- called also sweet bay. -- Swamp sparrow (Zool.), a common North American sparrow (Melospiza Georgiana, or Melospiza palustris), closely resembling the song sparrow. It lives in low, swampy places. -- Swamp willow. (Bot.) See Pussy willow, under Pussy.
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