swale

Meaning

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)

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

Pronounced as (IPA)

/sweɪl/

Etymology

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”).