swell up
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
become or make something larger or more intense
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
Trở nên hoặc làm cho điều gì đó lớn hơn hoặc mạnh mẽ hơn
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: increase in size like a swelling
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
The river began to swell up after the heavy rainfall
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “swell up” mean?
become or make something larger or more intense Literally: increase in size like a swelling
Is “swell up” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.