Whelm

·vt To throw (something) over a thing so as to cover it.

II. Whelm ·vt Fig.: To cover completely, as if with water; to Immerse; to Overcome; as, to whelm one in sorrows.

III. Whelm ·vt To cover with water or other fluid; to cover by immersion in something that envelops on all sides; to Overwhelm; to Ingulf.

whelm
half of a hollow tree, laid under agate- way, to form a passage for water. A kind of substitute for ...

A glossary of provincial and local words used in England by Francis Grose