fourmiller

Updated: June 19, 2025

Is not the word so understood a far more picturesque one than it was before? and is there not some real gain in the vigour and vividness of impression which is in this way obtained? 'Pavaner' is the French equivalent for our verb 'to strut, 'fourmiller' for our verb 'to swarm. But is it not a real gain to know further that the one is to strut as the peacock does, the other to swarm as do ants?

Richard Chenevix Trench - On the Study of Words