Swell, n.
 1. The act of swelling.
 2. Gradual increase. Specifically: (a) Increase or augmentation in bulk; protuberance. (b) Increase in height; elevation; rise.
    Little River affords navigation during a swell to within three miles of the Miami.   --Jefferson.
 (c) Increase of force, intensity, or volume of sound.
    Music arose with its voluptuous swell.   --Byron.
 (d) Increase of power in style, or of rhetorical force.
    The swell and subsidence of his periods.   --Landor.
 3. A gradual ascent, or rounded elevation, of land; as, an extensive plain abounding with little swells.
 4. A wave, or billow; especially, a succession of large waves; the roll of the sea after a storm; as, a heavy swell sets into the harbor.
 The swell
 Of the long waves that roll in yonder bay.   --Tennyson.
    The gigantic swells and billows of the snow.   --Hawthorne.
 5. Mus. A gradual increase and decrease of the volume of sound; the crescendo and diminuendo combined; -- generally indicated by the sign.
 6. A showy, dashing person; a dandy. [Slang]
 Ground swell. See under Ground.
 Organ swell Mus., a certain number of pipes inclosed in a box, the uncovering of which by means of a pedal produces increased sound.
 Swell shark Zool., a small shark (Scyllium ventricosum) of the west coast of North America, which takes in air when caught, and swells up like a swellfish.