Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Maelstrom

Maelstrom , noun

[Norw., a whirlpool.]

1.
A celebrated whirlpool on the coast of Norway.
any large or powerful whirlpool.
2.
An uncontrollable agitated or confusedly disordered state or situation; as, a maelstrom of vice. [Figurative]