swarm

Meaning

Noun

1. A large number of insects, especially when in motion or (for bees) migrating to a new colony.
2. A mass of people, animals or things in motion or turmoil.
3. A group of nodes sharing the same torrent in a BitTorrent network.
4. A number of small earthquakes (or other seismic events) occurring, with no clear cause, in a specific area within a relatively short space of time.

Verb

1. To move as a swarm.
2. To teem, or be overrun with insects, people, etc.
3. To fill a place as a swarm.
4. To overwhelm as by an opposing army.
5. To climb by gripping with arms and legs alternately.
6. To breed multitudes.

Concepts

swarm

flock

crowd

throng

herd

gather

teem

horde

mass

group

mob

multitude

stream

flight

bevy

school

drove

shoal

heap

congregate

pack

pullulate

crowd around

troop

cluster

assemble

cloud

mill about

body

pile

collection

company

rabble

come together

cluster around

gaggle

accumulation

band

crowd round

colony

hive

huddle

circle

pod

surge

gang

team

train

clump

flock together

be crowded

fly around

climb

pour

army

assemblage

gathering

exaltation

flutter

teem with

mass together

covey

pride

lot

lump

mallet

sledgehammer

crush

host

mass of people

be rife

invade

overcrowd

head towards

mill

troop out

party

side

crown

conspire

mustre

rally

convey

herd school

be busy

be congested

meet together

be thickly dotted

community

squadron

a large group of insects

large mass

move in a crowd

shin

press on one another

snarl

press

abound

be emaciated

be very talkative

Host

a lot of

battalion

heaps

large number of

lots

plenty of

ruck

clamber

scramble

jam

scrimmage

afflux

affluxion

swarm over

be plentiful

balcony

clustering

gallery

loft

flood

flow

inundate

overflow

shower

mist

crawl about

move around

fly about

bustle

crowd into

droves

entourage

ascension

barrel

barren

battery

bed

bike

boar

brace

brood

building

bunch

bury

business

busyness

cartload

cete

chowder

clamour

clowder

clutter

coalition

comfort

corps

drift

erst

family

field

flush

grist

gulp

harem

harras

hirsel

intrigue

kennel

kindle

knot

leash

murder

murmuration

mustering

nest

paddling

parliament

plump

pounce

raft

rookery

rout

shiver

shrewdness

skein

skulk

sleuth

sloth

sounder

span

string

stud

tiding

tittering

tribe

trip

wedge

ring

set

crowd together

Pronounced as (IPA)

/swɔɹm/

Etymology

From Middle English swarm, from Old English swearm (“swarm, multitude”), from Proto-West Germanic *swarm, from Proto-Germanic *swarmaz (“swarm, dizziness”), from Proto-Indo-European *swer- (“to buzz, hum”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Swoorm (“swarm”), Dutch zwerm, German Schwarm, Danish sværm, Swedish svärm, Icelandic svarmur (“tumult, swarm”), Latin susurrus (“whispering, humming”), Lithuanian surma (“a pipe”), Russian свире́ль (svirélʹ, “a pipe, reed”).
The verb is from Middle English swarmen, swermen, from Old English swierman (“to swarm”), from Proto-West Germanic *swarmijan, from Proto-Germanic *swarmijaną (“to swarm”), from the noun. Cognate with Scots swairm, swerm (“to swarm”), Dutch zwermen, German schwärmen, Danish sværme, Swedish svärma.