What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Swarm vs Grist - What's the difference?

swarm | grist |

As nouns the difference between swarm and grist

is that swarm is a large number of insects, especially when in motion or (for bees) migrating to a new colony while grist is grain that is to be ground in a mill.

As a verb swarm

is to move as a swarm.

swarm

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • A large number of insects, especially when in motion or (for bees) migrating to a new colony.
  • * Milton
  • a deadly swarm of hornets
  • A mass of people, animals or things in motion or turmoil.
  • a swarm of meteorites
  • * Addison
  • those prodigious swarms that had settled themselves in every part of it [Italy]
  • (label) A group of nodes sharing the same torrent in a BitTorrent network.
  • Verb

    (en verb)
  • (lb) To move as a swarm .
  • *
  • *:There is an hour or two, after the passengers have embarked, which is disquieting and fussy. Mail bags, so I understand, are being put on board. Stewards, carrying cabin trunks, swarm in the corridors.
  • (lb) To teem, or be overrun with insects, people, etc.
  • *(Edmund Spenser) (c.1552–1599)
  • *:Every place swarms with soldiers.
  • (lb) To fill a place as a swarm .
  • (lb) To overwhelm as by an opposing army.
  • To climb by gripping with arms and legs alternately.
  • * (1748–1828)
  • *:At the top was placed a piece of money, as a prize for those who could swarm up and seize it.
  • *1919 , , (The Moon and Sixpence) ,
  • *:She called out, and a boy came running along. He swarmed up a tree, and presently threw down a ripe nut. Ata pierced a hole in it, and the doctor took a long, refreshing draught.
  • To breed multitudes.
  • *(John Milton) (1608-1674)
  • *:Not so thick swarmed once the soil / Bedropped with blood of Gorgon.
  • See also

    *

    Anagrams

    * (l) English collective nouns

    grist

    English

    Noun

    (-)
  • Grain that is to be ground in a mill.
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author=(Henry Petroski)
  • , title= Geothermal Energy , volume=101, issue=4, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Ancient nomads, wishing to ward off the evening chill and enjoy a meal around a campfire, had to collect wood and then spend time and effort coaxing the heat of friction out from between sticks to kindle a flame. With more settled people, animals were harnessed to capstans or caged in treadmills to turn grist into meal.}}
  • (obsolete) A group of bees.
  • (colloquial, obsolete) Supply; provision.
  • (Jonathan Swift)
  • (ropemaking) A given size of rope, common grist being a rope three inches in circumference, with twenty yarns in each of the three strands.
  • (Knight)

    Derived terms

    * grist mill / gristmill * it's all grist to the mill

    Anagrams

    * * English collective nouns ----