swarmen

Low German

From the noun Swarm. Related to Dutch zwermen and German schwärmen.

swarmen (past swarm, past participle swarmt, auxiliary verb hebben)

Conjugation of swarmen (weak verb)

indicative	present	preterite
infinitive	swarmen
1st person singular	swarm	swarm
2nd person singular	swarms(t)	swarms(t)
3rd person singular	swarm(t)	swarm
plural	swarmt, swarmen	swarmen
imperative	present	—
singular	swarm(e)
plural	swarmt
participle	present	past
	swarmen	(e)swarmt, geswarmt
Note: This conjugation is one of many; neither its grammar nor spelling apply to all dialects.

From Old English swierman, from Proto-Germanic *swarmijaną; equivalent to swarm +‎ -en.

swarmen

To swarm; to move around in a large group.
- a. 1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, “The Summoner's Tale”, in The Canterbury Tales, lines 1693-1696:
  Right so as bees out swarmen from an hyve, / Out of the develes ers ther gonne dryve / Twenty thousand freres on a route / And thurghout helle swarmed al aboute...
  Just like bees swarm from a hive / Out of the devil's arse there were driven / Twenty thousand friars on a rout / And throughout hell they swarmed all about...
(rare) To be present in great quantity.

Conjugation of swarmen (weak)

“swarmen (v.)” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-11-25.

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