Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Swamp \Swamp\, v. i.
   1. To sink or stick in a swamp; figuratively, to become
      involved in insuperable difficulties.

   2. To become filled with water, as a boat; to founder; to
      capsize or sink; figuratively, to be ruined; to be
      wrecked.

Swamp \Swamp\, n. [Cf. AS. swam a fungus, OD. swam a sponge, D.
   zwam a fungus, G. schwamm a sponge, Icel. sv["o]ppr, Dan. &
   Sw. swamp, Goth. swamms, Gr. somfo`s porous, spongy.]
   Wet, spongy land; soft, low ground saturated with water, but
   not usually covered with it; marshy ground away from the
   seashore.

         Gray swamps and pools, waste places of the hern.
                                                  --Tennyson.

         A swamp differs from a bog and a marsh in producing
         trees and shrubs, while the latter produce only
         herbage, plants, and mosses.             --Farming
                                                  Encyc. (E.
                                                  Edwards,
                                                  Words).

   {Swamp blackbird}. (Zo["o]l.) See {Redwing}
   (b) .

   {Swamp cabbage} (Bot.), skunk cabbage.

   {Swamp deer} (Zo["o]l.), an Asiatic deer ({Rucervus
      Duvaucelli}) of India.

   {Swamp hen}. (Zo["o]l.)
   (a) An Australian azure-breasted bird ({Porphyrio bellus});
       -- called also {goollema}.
   (b) An Australian water crake, or rail ({Porzana Tabuensis});
       -- called also {little swamp hen}.
   (c) The European purple gallinule.

   {Swamp honeysuckle} (Bot.), an American shrub ({Azalea, or
      Rhododendron, viscosa}) growing in swampy places, with
      fragrant flowers of a white color, or white tinged with
      rose; -- called also {swamp pink}.

   {Swamp hook}, a hook and chain used by lumbermen in handling
      logs. Cf. {Cant hook}.

   {Swamp itch}. (Med.) See {Prairie itch}, under {Prairie}.

   {Swamp laurel} (Bot.), a shrub ({Kalmia glauca}) having small
      leaves with the lower surface glaucous.

   {Swamp maple} (Bot.), red maple. See {Maple}.

   {Swamp oak} (Bot.), a name given to several kinds of oak
      which grow in swampy places, as swamp Spanish oak
      ({Quercus palustris}), swamp white oak ({Q. bicolor}),
      swamp post oak ({Q. lyrata}).

   {Swamp ore} (Min.), bog ore; limonite.

   {Swamp partridge} (Zo["o]l.), any one of several Australian
      game birds of the genera {Synoicus} and {Excalfatoria},
      allied to the European partridges.

   {Swamp robin} (Zo["o]l.), the chewink.

   {Swamp sassafras} (Bot.), a small North American tree of the
      genus {Magnolia} ({M. glauca}) with aromatic leaves and
      fragrant creamy-white blossoms; -- called also {sweet
      bay}.

   {Swamp sparrow} (Zo["o]l.), a common North American sparrow
      ({Melospiza Georgiana}, or {M. palustris}), closely
      resembling the song sparrow. It lives in low, swampy
      places.

   {Swamp willow}. (Bot.) See {Pussy willow}, under {Pussy}.

Swamp \Swamp\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Swamped}; p. pr. & vb. n.
   {Swamping}.]
   1. To plunge or sink into a swamp.

   2. (Naut.) To cause (a boat) to become filled with water; to
      capsize or sink by whelming with water.

   3. Fig.: To plunge into difficulties and perils; to
      overwhelm; to ruin; to wreck.

            The Whig majority of the house of Lords was swamped
            by the creation of twelve Tory peers. --J. R. Green.

            Having swamped himself in following the ignis fatuus
            of a theory.                          --Sir W.
                                                  Hamilton.

Source : WordNet®

swamp
     n 1: low land that is seasonally flooded; has more woody plants
          than a marsh and better drainage than a bog [syn: {swampland}]
     2: a situation fraught with difficulties and imponderables; "he
        was trapped in a medical swamp"

swamp
     v 1: drench or submerge or be drenched or submerged; "The tsunami
          swamped every boat in the harbor" [syn: {drench}]
     2: fill quickly beyond capacity; as with a liquid; "the
        basement was inundated after the storm"; "The images
        flooded his mind" [syn: {deluge}, {flood}, {inundate}]