Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Swell \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.

   6. A showy, dashing person; a dandy. [Slang]

   {Ground swell}. See under {Ground}.

   {Organ swell} (Mus.), a certain number of pipes inclosed in a
      box, the uncovering of which by means of a pedal produces
      increased sound.

   {Swell shark} (Zo["o]l.), a small shark ({Scyllium
      ventricosum}) of the west coast of North America, which
      takes in air when caught, and swells up like a swellfish.