Schwarm - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

From Old High German swarm, from Proto-Germanic *swarmaz, from Proto-Indo-European *swer- (“to buzz, hum”). Compare Dutch zwerm, English swarm, Danish sværm. The sense “crush” is a backformation from the verb schwärmen; see there.

• IPA^(key): /ʃvaʁm/, [ʃʋaʁm], [ʃʋaɐ̯m], [ʃʋaːm]

Schwarm m (strong, genitive Schwarmes or Schwarms, plural Schwärme)

1. swarm of insects; flock of birds; school of fish
   • 1921, Elisabeth von Heyking, Die Trommel, in Weberin Schuld, G. Grote'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, page 8:

     Dazu zirpten unzählige Zikaden, schillernde Libellen schossen surrend durch die Luft, […], Mücken summten in Schwärmen, […]

     In addition countless cicadas chirped, iridescent dragonflies shot buzzingly through the air, […], mosquitoes hummed in swarms, […]

2. crush; beloved; object of one’s (unfulfilled) love

• schwärmen, schwarmartig

• Schwarmbildung, Schwarmfisch, Schwarmintelligenz, Schwarmverhalten

• “Schwarm” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “Schwarm” in Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm, 16 vols., Leipzig 1854–1961.
• “Schwarm” in Duden online