- Dwell is defined as to live somewhere, to remain for a time or to continue thinking, writing or speaking about a particular point.
- An example of dwell is to live in a cottage by the sea for several years.
- An example of dwell is to continue feeling angry about an argument, even though it is long over.
A birdhouse in which two little birds dwell.
dwell onor dwell upon
intransitive verbdwelt dwelt or dwelled, dwell·ing, dwells
- To live as a resident; reside.
- To exist in a given place or state: dwell in joy.
- a. To fasten one's attention on something, especially moodily or persistently: kept dwelling on what went wrong. See Synonyms at brood.b. To speak or write at length; expatiate: dwelt on the need to trim the budget.
Origin of dwellMiddle English dwellen, from Old English dwellan, to mislead, delay, dwell.
- (engineering) A period of time in which a system or component remains in a given state.
- (engineering) A brief pause in the motion of part of a mechanism to allow an operation to be completed.
- (electrical engineering) A planned delay in a timed control program.
- (automotive) In a petrol engine, the period of time the ignition points are closed to let current flow through the ignition coil in between each spark. This is measured as an angle in degrees around the camshaft in the distributor which controls the points, for example in a 4-cylinder engine it might be 55° (spark at 90° intervals, points closed for 55° between each).
(third-person singular simple present dwells, present participle dwelling, simple past and past participle dwelt or dwelled (mostly US))
- dwell on, dwell upon
From Old English dwellan, which is from or cognate to Old Norse dvelja. Cognates include Danish dvæle and Swedish dväljas.