different between collection vs swarm

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French collection, from Latin coll?cti?, coll?cti?nem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k??l?k??n/
• Rhymes: -?k??n
• Hyphenation: col?lec?tion

Noun

collection (countable and uncountable, plural collections)

1. A set of items or amount of material procured or gathered together.
   • 1837, William Whewell, History of the Inductive Sciences

     collections of moisture

   • 1887, Robert Bartholow, A Treatise on the Practice of Medicine

     a purulent collection

2. Multiple related objects associated as a group.

3. The activity of collecting.

4. (topology, mathematical analysis) A set of sets.
5. A gathering of money for charitable or other purposes, as by passing a contribution box for donations.
6. (law) Debt collection.
7. (obsolete) The act of inferring or concluding from premises or observed facts; also, that which is inferred.
8. (Britain) The jurisdiction of a collector of excise.
9. (in the plural, Britain, Oxford University) A set of college exams generally taken at the start of the term.
10. The quality of being collected; calm composure.

Derived terms

Translations

French

Alternative forms

• c., coll. (abbreviations)

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin coll?cti?, coll?cti?nem. Cf. also Old French quieuçon, which may be inherited from the same source, and the modern cueillaison, which was probably formed analogically.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k?.l?k.sj??/
• Rhymes: -??
• Homophone: collections
• Hyphenation: col?lec?tion

Noun

collection f (plural collections)

1. collection

Derived terms

• collec
• collectionner
• collectionneur
• collectionnite

Related terms

• collecte
• collecter
• cueillette
• cueillir

Further reading

• “collection” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

English

Etymology

From Middle English swarm, from Old English swearm (“swarm, multitude”), 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 ???????? (svirél?, “a pipe, reed”).

The verb is from Middle English swarmen, swermen, from Old English swierman (“to swarm”), from Proto-Germanic *swarmijan? (“to swarm”), from the noun. Cognate with Scots swairm, swerm (“to swarm”), Dutch zwermen, German schwärmen, Danish sværme, Swedish svärma.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /sw??m/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /sw??m/
• Rhymes: -??(?)m

Noun

swarm (plural swarms)

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.

   a swarm of meteorites

   • those prodigious swarms that had settled themselves in every part of it [Italy]

3. (computing) A group of nodes sharing the same torrent in a BitTorrent network.

Derived terms

• aswarm

Translations

Verb

swarm (third-person singular simple present swarms, present participle swarming, simple past and past participle swarmed)

1. (intransitive) To move as a swarm.
2. (intransitive) To teem, or be overrun with insects, people, etc.

   • Every place swarming with soldiers.

3. (transitive) To fill a place as a swarm.
4. (transitive) To overwhelm as by an opposing army.
5. To climb by gripping with arms and legs alternately.
   • 1784, William Coxe, Travels into Poland, Russia, Sweden and Denmark

     At the top was placed a piece of money, as a prize for those who could swarm up and seize it.

   • 1919, W. Somerset Maugham, The Moon and Sixpence, chapter 55

     She called out, and a boy came running along. He swarmed up a tree, and presently threw down a ripe nut. Ata pierced a hole in it, and the doctor took a long, refreshing draught.

6. To breed multitudes.

Translations

See also

• Appendix:English collective nouns

Anagrams

• warms

Middle English

Alternative forms

• swrame, swarme

Etymology

From Old English swearm, from Proto-Germanic *swarmaz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /swarm/, /sw?rm/

Noun

swarm (plural swarmes)

1. A swarm (large, moving group of bees)
2. (rare) A large group of people.

Derived terms

• swarmen

Descendants

• English: swarm
• Scots: swairm

References

• “swarm, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-11-24.