Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Maelstrom \Mael"strom\, n. [Norw., a whirlpool.]
   1. A celebrated whirlpool on the coast of Norway.

   2. Also Fig.; as, a maelstrom of vice.

Source : WordNet®

maelstrom
     n : a powerful circular current of water (usually the resulting
         of conflicting tides) [syn: {whirlpool}, {vortex}]