1. [v]  think moodily or anxiously about something
2. [v]  come back to; "Don't dwell on the past"
3. [v]  make one's home or live in; "There are only 250,000 people in Iceland"; "I live in a 200-year old house"; "These people inhabited all the islands that are now deserted"; "The plains are sparsely populated"
4. [v]  originate (in); "The problems dwell in the social injustices in this country"

1. \Dwell\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Dwelled}, usually contracted
   into {Dwelt} (?); p. pr. & vb. n. {Dwelling}.] [OE. dwellen,
   dwelien, to err, linger, AS. dwellan to deceive, hinder,
   delay, dwelian to err; akin to Icel. dvelja to delay, tarry,
   Sw. dv["a]ljas to dwell, Dan. dv[ae]le to linger, and to E.
   dull. See {Dull}, and cf. {Dwale}.]
   1. To delay; to linger. [Obs.]
   2. To abide; to remain; to continue.
            I 'll rather dwell in my necessity.   --Shak.
            Thy soul was like a star and dwelt apart.
                                                  --Wordsworth.
   3. To abide as a permanent resident, or for a time; to live
      in a place; to reside.
            The parish in which I was born, dwell, and have
            possessions.                          --Peacham.
            The poor man dwells in a humble cottage near the
            hall where the lord of the domain resides. --C. J.
                                                  Smith.
   {To dwell in}, to abide in (a place); hence, to depend on.
      ``My hopes in heaven to dwell.'' --Shak.
   {To dwell on} or {upon}, to continue long on or in; to remain
      absorbed with; to stick to; to make much of; as, to dwell
      upon a subject; a singer dwells on a note.
            They stand at a distance, dwelling on his looks and
            language, fixed in amazement.         --Buckminster.
   Syn: To inhabit; live; abide; sojourn; reside; continue;
        stay; rest.
   

2. \Dwell\, v. t.
   To inhabit. [R.] --Milton.
   

Tents were in primitive times the common dwellings of men. Houses were afterwards built, the walls of which were frequently of mud (Job 24:16; Matt. 6:19, 20) or of sun-dried bricks.

God "dwells in light" (1 Tim. 6:16; 1 John 1:7), in heaven (Ps. 123:1), in his church (Ps. 9:11; 1 John 4:12). Christ dwelt on earth in the days of his humiliation (John 1:14). He now dwells in the hearts of his people (Eph. 3:17-19). The Holy Spirit dwells in believers (1 Cor. 3:16; 2 Tim. 1:14). We are exhorted to "let the word of God dwell in us richly" (Col. 3:16; Ps. 119:11).

Dwell deep occurs only in Jer. 49:8, and refers to the custom of seeking refuge from impending danger, in retiring to the recesses of rocks and caverns, or to remote places in the desert.