swallow

Universal Words verb, noun verb food / drink 1 to make food, drink, etc. go down your throat into your stomach: [VN] Always chew food well before swallowing it. * [VN-ADJ] The pills should be swallowed whole. * [V] I had a sore throat and it hurt to swallow. move throat muscles 2 [V] to move the muscles of your throat as if you were swallowing sth, especially because you are nervous: She swallowed hard and told him the bad news. completely cover 3 [VN] [oftenpassive] ~ sb/sth (up) to take sb/sth in or completely cover it so that they cannot be seen or no longer exist separately: I watched her walk down the road until she was swallowed by the darkness. * Large areas of countryside have been swallowed up by towns. use up money 4 [VN] ~ sb/sth (up) to use up sth completely, especially an amount of money: Most of my salary gets swallowed (up) by the rent and bills. believe 5 to accept that sth is true; to believe sth: [VN] I found her excuse very hard to swallow. * [VN-ADJ] He told her a pack of lies, but she swallowed it whole. feelings 6 [VN] to hide your feelings: to swallow your doubts / anger * You're going to have to swallow your pride and ask for your job back. accept insults 7 [VN] to accept insults, criticisms, etc. without complaining or protesting: I was surprised that he just sat there and swallowed all their remarks. IDIOMS see BITTERadj. noun bird 1 a small bird with long pointed wings and a tail with two points, that spends the winter in Africa but flies to northern countries for the summer of food / drink 2 an act of swallowing; an amount of food or drink that is swallowed at one time: She took a swallow of coffee.