welter

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   be immersed in

   Welter in work.

2. 2
   verb

   toss, roll, or rise and fall in an uncontrolled way

   The shipwrecked survivors weltered in the sea for hours.

3. 3
   verb

   To revel, luxuriate.

   1537, Hugh Latimer, Sermon III, Preached to the Convocation of the Clergy, in The Sermons of Hugh Latimer, London: J. Scott, 1783, Volume I, p. 38, When we welter in pleasures and idleness, then we eat and drink with drunkards.

4. 4
   adj

   Heavyweight. (of horsemen)

   A welter race.

From Middle English welteren, equivalent to welt + -er (frequentative suffix). Cognates include German Low German weltern (“to wallow; roll”), Old Norse velta (Danish vælte), German wälzen, Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌻𐍄𐌾𐌰𐌽 (waltjan). Akin to wallow and Latin volvō.

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