Swell [swel] - увеличивать, расширять

1. The flood swelled high and yet more high… Наводнение все усиливалось и усиливалось (расширялось, увеличивалось)
2. "Give us work!" was the cry of an army of the unemployed at nearly all seasons, and in seasons of dullness in business this army swelled to a host so vast and desperate as to threaten the stability of the government. “Дайте нам работу” - так кричала армия безработных почти всегда, но во времена экономического спада эта армия увеличивалась до толпы, которая была так многочислена и на столько доведена до отчаяния, что угрожала безопасности государства.
3. There he had seen everything to exalt in his estimation the woman he had lost; Там он увидел все, что ему было нужно, чтобы увеличить свое уважение к женщине, которую он потерял.

• Cibot was Schmucke's tailor; his clothes cost him on average a hundred and fifty francs, which further swells the total to the sum of twelve hundred. On twelve hundred francs per annum this profound philosopher lived. Cousin Pons, by Honore de Balzac
• …and the Lost Sea of Korus to persuade the poor deluded creatures to take the voluntary pilgrimage that swells the wealth of the Holy Therns and adds to the numbers of their slaves. The Gods of Mars, by Edgar Rice Burroughs
• As a wave that swells to break they rose suddenly, like a breaking wave they poured down the slope. Nada the Lily, by H. Rider Haggard
• "Rise slaves!" it rose and fell until it swelled to a mighty volume of sound that swept in great billows around the entire amphitheatre. The Gods of Mars, by Edgar Rice Burroughs
• When at last he was made fast and seemed quite helpless and beyond the faintest hope of succour, Rokoff's shrivelled wart of courage swelled to its usual proportions when danger was not present. The Beasts of Tarzan, by Edgar Rice Burroughs
• Whereupon the pomegranate swelled to the size of a watermelon in air and, falling upon the marble pavement of the palace, broke to pieces, and all the grains fell out and were scattered about till they covered the whole floor. The Arabian Nights, by Sir Richard Burton