acwellan

By surface analysis, ā- +‎ cwellan

• IPA^(key): /ɑːˈkwel.lɑn/, [ɑːˈkweɫ.ɫɑn]

ācwellan

1. to kill
   • late 9th century, translation of Orosius’ History Against the Pagans

     Æfter þǣm Rōmeburg ġetimbred wæs V hunde wintrum ⁊ XXXIII, Hannibal, Pena cyning, besǣt Saguntum Ispania burg...⁊ þǣr wæs sittende eahta mōnaþ, oþ hē hīe ealle hungre ācwealde, ⁊ þā burg tōwearp....

     533 years after Rome was built, Hannibal, king of the Carthaginians, laid siege to Saguntum, a city in Hispania...and he sat there for eight months, until he killed them all with hunger, and destroyed the city...

   • Homilies of the Anglo-Saxon Church

     Æfter þyssere sprǣċe cōmon ðā drȳmen, and hæfdon him mid tweġen ormǣte dracan, ðǣra orðung ācwealde þæt earme mennisċ: ac sē apostol Matheus þā dracan ġeswefode, and siððan of ðām lande adrǣfde, swā þæt hī næfre siððan þǣr ġesewene nǣron.

     After this speech came the sorcerers, who had two enormous dragons which them, whose breath killed that poor man: but the apostle Matthew lulled the dragons to sleep, and then drove them from the land, so that they have never been seen there since.

2. to destroy

• ācwelan