swale

Noun

1. A low tract of moist or marshy land.
2. A long narrow and shallow trough between ridges on a beach, running parallel to the coastline.
3. A shallow troughlike depression created to carry water during rainstorms or snow melts; a drainage ditch.
4. Bioswale, a shallow trough dug into the land on contour (horizontally with no slope), whose purpose is to allow water time to percolate into the soil.
5. A shallow, usually grassy depression sloping downward from a plains upland meadow or level vegetated ridgetop.

Verb

Alternative form of sweal (“melt and waste away, or singe”).

Pronounced as (IPA)

/sweɪl/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: swale

Cognate with Old Norse: svalr

Cognate with Icelandic: svalir

In summary

Possibly from Middle English swale (“a shady place, a shadow”), perhaps of North Germanic origin; akin to Old Norse svalr (“cool, fresh”), Icelandic svalir (“a balcony running along a wall”).

Synonyms

Moor

marsh

morass

quagmire

swamp

hollow

bottom land

mire

low land

low lying land

slough

low-lying ground

vale

valley

low-lying land

bayou

bog

fen

glade