It is low ebb with his accuser when such peccadilloes are put to
swell the charge.
Atterbury.
3. To raise to arrogance; to puff up; to inflate; as, to be swelled
with pride or haughtiness.
4. (Mus.) To augment gradually in force or loudness, as the sound of a
note.
Swell, n. 1. The act of swelling.
2. Gradual increase. Specifically: (a) Increase or augmentation in
bulk; protuberance. (b) Increase in height; elevation; rise.
Little River affords navigation during a swell to within three
miles of the Miami.
Jefferson.
(c) Increase of force, intensity, or volume of sound.
Music arose with its voluptuous swell.
Byron.
(d) Increase of power in style, or of rhetorical force.
The swell and subsidence of his periods.
Landor.
3. A gradual ascent, or rounded elevation, of land; as, an extensive
plain abounding with little swells.
4. A wave, or billow; especially, a succession of large waves; the roll
of the sea after a storm; as, a heavy swell sets into the harbor.
The swell Of the long waves that roll in yonder bay.
Tennyson.
The gigantic swells and billows of the snow.
Hawthorne.
5. (Mus.) A gradual increase and decrease of the volume of sound; the
crescendo and diminuendo combined; -- generally indicated by the sign.