- svæla
- I)f.1) thick, choking smoke;2) cheating (flærð eðr svæla).II)(-da, -dr), v. to suffocate (stifle) with smoke (s. e-n inni sem melrakka í greni).* * *1.u, f. [A. S. swol = heat, swælan = to burn; Engl. swelter, sultry; Germ. schwüle]:—a thick, choking smoke; reykr ok svæla, Sturl. iii. 189 C; dimri svælu, Fas, iii. 441; nú görðisk brátt s. mikil í húsunum ok reykr tók at vaxa, Þorst. Síðu H. 175; reykjar-s., a stifling smoke, freq. in mod. usage.2. metaph. cheating, rapacity: draga saman auð með sökum ok svælum, 623. 21; svæla eðr flærð, Sturl. i. 20.2.d, to smoke out, suffocate with smoke, used of a fox; s. e-n inni sem melrakka í greni, Nj. 198; leita heldr út en vera svældr inni, Sturl. iii. 189 C.2. metaph., svæla undir sik, to gain by fair or foul means.
An Icelandic-English dictionary. Richard Cleasby and Gudbrand Vigfusson. 1874.