GROUND SWELL • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Ground swell

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/graʊnd swɛl/ Listen

Ground swell

noun

An obvious change of public opinion or political sentiment that occurs without leadership or overt expression.

A broad and deep undulation of the ocean. Synonym: heavy swell.

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Etymology of 'Ground swell'

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"Ground swell" Quotes from Famous Books

... the sea cocks in the ballast tanks and soon the Porpoise sunk about two hundred feet beneath the waves. The craft, which had been pitching and tossing under the influence of a ground swell, became more steady and quiet ...

— Under the Ocean to the South Pole - The Strange Cruise of the Submarine Wonder • Roy Rockwood

... calm enough now, save for a heavy ground swell. The waters were marvelously blue, and overhead was the blue sky. Seen against the background of the wonderfully tinted hills of palms, the city of San Juan presented ...

— The Motor Girls on Waters Blue - Or The Strange Cruise of The Tartar • Margaret Penrose

... and thither, Every breath of air and every current of public opinion impels it first in one direction and then in another, At one moment we may be said to be in the doldrums of the English society drama, or we are sluggishly rolling along in a heavy ground swell, propelled by a passing cat's paw of revivals of old melodramas. Again we catch a very faint northerly breeze from Ibsen, or a southeaster from Maeterlinck and Hauptmann. Sometimes we set our sails to woo that ever-clearing breeze of Shakespeare, ...

— [19th Century Actor] Autobiographies • George Iles

... goes that many years ago an Orkneyman was pursued by a press-gang, but escaped being captured by sailing into the cave with his boat. He took refuge on one of the rocky ledges inside, but in his haste he forgot to secure his boat, and the ground swell of the sea washed it out of the cave. To make matters worse, a storm came on, and there he remained a prisoner in the cave for two days; but as soon as the storm abated he plunged into the water, swam to a small rock outside, and thence climbed to the top of the cliff and ...

— From John O'Groats to Land's End • Robert Naylor and John Naylor

... encounter a heavy ground swell; but the breeze is in their favour, and, with the sail set, they are able to keep steadily before it. They have no trouble in making their course, as the sky is clear, and Sarmiento—an all-sufficient guide-post—always visible. But although ...

— The Land of Fire - A Tale of Adventure • Mayne Reid