trade wind

Compound of trade (“course, path (of running)”, from 14th c.) + wind, because of their consistent linear direction. Associations with transatlantic trade are a later folk etymology.

compound+

They rode the trade winds going west.

During the summer months, from November to April, the trade wind is less steady over large parts of the ocean.

2008, Jimmy Cornell, World Cruising Routes, A&C Black, →ISBN, page 365:

A steady wind that blows from east to west above and below the equator.


derecho

/dəˈɹeɪ.t͡ʃoʊ/

Learned borrowing from Spanish derecho (“straight”). First used by Gustavus Detlef Hinrichs in 1888, apparently coined to distinguish the winds from tornadoes, which rotate; compare tornado. Doublet of direct.

lbor

Combining all of the above, the Arkansas Valley, Ouachita Mountains, Interior Plateau, and Southwest Appalachian ecoregions have the greatest risk of wind damage from tornadoes and derechos, whereas weakening hurricanes are an important disturbance, especially in the Piedmont ecoregion.

2015, Chris J. Peterson, Jeffery B. Cannon, Christopher M. Godfrey, “5: First Steps Toward Defining the Wind Disturbance Regime in Central Hardwoods Forests”, in Cathryn H. Greenberg, Beverly S. Collins, editors, Natural Disturbances and Historic Range of Variation, Springer, page 116:

Derechos have winds as powerful as those of some hurricanes and tornadoes. "Derecho" comes from the Spanish word meaning "straight."

2016, Bill Streever, And Soon I Heard a Roaring Wind, Hachette, unnumbered page:

A derecho can be as destructive as a weak to moderate tornado, but the damage is mainly the result of straight-line rather than rotating winds.
However, tornadoes can also form along the bow of a derecho. Derechos can sometimes be recognized as a bank of ominous-looking "shelf" clouds that appear darker than normal clouds.

2022, Alexander Gates, Earth's Fury, Wiley, unnumbered page:

(meteorology, US) A windstorm characterized by strong, straight-line winds.

dereĉo

windstorm with strong straight-line winds


haar

en-noun

haar (countable and uncountable, plural haars)

Attested since the late 17th century, alongside Scots haar (“cold easterly wind; misty wind; cold fog or mist”).
Perhaps ultimately from Middle Dutch hare (“cold wind”) or a related Low German word; compare Dutch harig (“windy; foggy, misty”), Saterland Frisian harig (“misty”).
Alternatively, perhaps simply a northern English or Scottish variant of hoar, or a borrowing of Old Norse hárr (“hoary”).

cog

The traffic noise used to be constant, at times as thick as the haar, the sea fog that sometimes rolls in here from the North Sea.

2020, David Farrier, “The Insatiable Road”, in Footprints, 4th estate, →ISBN:

(especially Northern England, Scotland) Thick, cold, wet fog along the northeastern coast of Northern England and Scotland.

[…] westerly haar, which wraps everything up in white wool, and blots out sea and sky, and chokes the depressed wayfarer-not to speak of the penetrating chill which even in June goes down into the marrow of your bones, and makes the[…]

1873, Mrs. Oliphant (Margaret), May. [A Novel.], page 73:

[An] easterly haar was blowing in off the sea, the cold wind bringing with it a thick fog that crawled under the collar and clung to the skin. Ahead, the road disappeared as the fog hid anything on either side of the hedges save for the[…]

2024 February 29, Samantha SoRelle, The Gentleman's Gentleman, Balcarres Books LLC, →ISBN, page 168:

(especially Scotland) A wind, especially one from the east, which blows in this fog.


blow

en-verb

blow (third-person singular simple present blows, present participle blowing, simple past blew, past participle blown)

blows (present singular third-person)
blowing (participle present)
blew (past)
blown (participle past)

From Middle English blowen, from Old English blāwan (“to blow, breathe, inflate, sound”), from Proto-West Germanic *blāan, from Proto-Germanic *blēaną (“to blow”) (compare German blähen), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₁- (“to swell, blow up”) (compare Latin flō (“to blow”) and Old Armenian բեղուն (bełun, “fertile”)).

der

Church of Scientology
Church of Scientology

(Scientology, intransitive) To leave the Church of Scientology in an unauthorized manner.


following

The following words have no definition[…]

The following wind sped us on our way.

(of a wind) Blowing in the direction of travel.


following

Following all relevant safety instructions, administer a dose of the corticosteroid.

Administer a dose of the corticosteroid, following all relevant safety instructions.


following

Coordinate term: follower

When a new user joins Weibo, he should register Weibo and get a unique ID, and then he takes some existing users as his followings and waits for others to follow him.

2014, Zhengbiao Guo, Zhitang Li, Hao Tu, Da Xie, “Weibo: An Information-Driven Online Social Network”, in Marina L.Gavrilova, C.J. Kenneth Tan, editors, Transactions on Computational Science XXII (Lecture Notes in Computer Science; 8360), Springer, →ISBN, part I (Neural and Social Networks), page 6:

A follower can follow any other users and receive any kind of tweets from his or her followings.

2017, Konglin Zhu, Xiaoming Fu, Wenzhong Li, Sanglu Lu, Jan Nagler, “Population Growth in Online Social Networks”, in Xiaoming Fu, Jar-Der Luo, Margarete Boos, editors, Social Network Analysis: Interdisciplinary Approaches and Case Studies, CRC Press, →ISBN, section 3 (The Data), subsection 1 (Three Online Social Networks):

She scrolled through her [Chloe’s] page and liked a few of her pictures that were like candy to her eyes before thoroughly checking her followings. She then checked Chloe’s followers, which was well over a thousand followers.

2020, Jay Janzee, Don’t Get Too Close, Pittsburgh, Pa.: RoseDog Books, →ISBN, page 79:

(social media) An account which is followed.


simoom

From Arabic سَمُوم (samūm, “hot wind”), from سَمَّ (samma, “to poison”).

The desert storm was riding in its strength; the travellers lay beneath the mastery of the fell simoom. Whirling wreaths and columns of burning wind, rushed around and over them.

1892, James Yoxall, chapter 5, in The Lonely Pyramid:

Stephen's heart had withered up like a flower of the desert that feels the simoom coming from afar.

1916, James Joyce, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Macmillan Press Ltd, paperback, page 101:

A hot, dry, suffocating, dust-laden wind of the desert, particularly of Arabia, Syria, and neighboring countries, generated by the extreme heat of the parched deserts or sandy plains.


snowstorm

From snow + storm. Compare Saterland Frisian Sneestoarm, West Frisian sniestoarm, German Schneesturm, Dutch sneeuwstorm, Swedish snöstorm, Icelandic snjóstormur.

Dined at Melville Castle, whither I went through a snow-storm.

1826 November 28 (date written), Walter Scott, “[Entry dated 28 November 1826]”, in David Douglas, editor, The Journal of Sir Walter Scott […], volume I, Edinburgh: David Douglas, published 1890, →OCLC, page 24:

Bad weather involving blowing winds and snow, or blowing winds and heavy snowfall amount.

stuhi dëbore

bad weather involving blowing winds and snow


duststorm

In the early part of the 20th century, "dust bowl" storms in the central U.S. were responsible for crippling damage to the agricultural infrastructure.

I saw a dust-storm at Kueichow which lasted for seven hours, burying some hovels and much agricultural country, and even producing a metamorphosis of the rocky bed of the Yangtze. Such storms have been observed as far east as Shanghai, but their occurrence at Kueichow shows that their area is not limited to the Great Plain or even to the region east of the mountain barrier between HUPEH and SZE CHUAN.

[1900, Isabella L. Bird, The Yangtze Valley and Beyond, volume 1, →OCLC, →OL, page 9:

phenomenon in which gale- to hurricane-force winds blow particles up in a planet's atmosphere.


monsoon

→ German: Monsun
→ Czech: monzun

→ Hindi: मानसून (mānsūn)

→ Punjabi: ਮੌਨਸੂਨ (maunsūn)

From Portuguese monção and Dutch moesson, from Arabic مَوْسِم (mawsim, “season”), from وَسَمَ (wasama, “to mark, to brand”).

Any of a number of winds associated with regions where most rain falls during a particular season.

Floods in northern India, mostly in the small state of Uttarakhand, have wrought disaster on an enormous scale. The early, intense onset of the monsoon on June 14th swelled rivers, washing away roads, bridges, hotels and even whole villages. Rock-filled torrents smashed vehicles and homes, burying victims under rubble and sludge.

2013 June 29, “High and wet”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, page 28:

Tropical rainy season when the rain lasts for several months with few interruptions.

মৌচুমী

tropical rainy season — see also monsoon season

Entire meteorological systems with such characteristics.


cyclone

→ Catalan: cicló

→ Danish: cyklon

desctree

→ Dutch: cycloon
→ Indonesian: siklon
→ Papiamentu: siklon

→ French: cyclone
→ Romanian: ciclon

→ German: Zyklon
→ Polish: cyklon

→ Japanese: サイクロン (Saikuron)

→ Korean: 사이클론 (saikeullon)

⇒ Norwegian Bokmål: syklon

⇒ Norwegian Nynorsk: syklon

→ Portuguese: ciclone

→ Russian: цикло́н (ciklón), циклонъ (ciklon), цѵклонъ (ciklon) — Pre-reform orthography (1918) (calque)
→ Armenian: ցիկլոն (cʻiklon)

→ Thai: ไซโคลน (sai-kloon)

→ Ukrainian: цикло́н (cyklón)

Coined by Henry Piddington, probably in the 1840s, and based on some term in Ancient Greek. Sources disagree on the date and on which Ancient Greek term, though it had to be something derived from either κύκλος (kúklos, “circle, wheel”) or κυκλόω (kuklóō, “go around in a circle, form a circle, encircle”), for example the present active participle κυκλῶν (kuklôn). See cycle and wheel.

atmospheric pressure
atmospheric pressure

(loosely) Any weather phenomenon consisting of a system of winds rotating around a centre of low atmospheric pressure.

(specifically) Such a weather phenomenon occurring in the South Pacific and Indian Ocean

sikloon

South Pacific and Indian Ocean weather phenomenon

A cyclone separator; the cylindrical vortex tube within such a separator


cyclone

en-verb

cyclone (third-person singular simple present cyclones, present participle cycloning, simple past and past participle cycloned)

cyclones (present singular third-person)
cycloning (participle present)
cycloned (participle past)
cycloned (past)

The product is cycloned and overflow at 45-50% solids is pumped to primary flotation where 50-70% of the copper is removed as a 21% concentrate.

1977, Western Miner and Oil Review - Volume 50, page 35:

The Syncrude Tar Sand Mine in Alberta, Canada uses a similar hydraulic cell construction technique to raise tailings embankments, although tailings are not cycloned.

1988, Dirk J. A. Van Zyl, Steven G. Vick, Hydraulic Fill Structures, page 59:

Some catsup manufacturers demand a hot break before the tomatoes are cycloned in order to retain the largest possible amount of pectin from the tomatoes.

2013, WA Gould, Tomato Production, Processing and Technology, page 238:

White dust was cycloning at the bottom of ravines that cut for miles into the red flatness

1997, D. J. H. Jones, Murder in the New Age:

Pine needles cycloned wildly as Jan swung her car into the Institute's parking lot.

2018, Wayne Kyle Spitzer, Death Scene, page 2:

The unicorn stamped and gave him a scornful look as Sally cycloned away from them, but Wulfric laughed to himself a crafty laugh.

2020, Elizabeth Ann Scarborough, Songs From the Seashell Archives:

He raised his arms in supplication even as the cloak's hood blew back and his hair cycloned—like he was standing in a vortex.

2021, Wayne Kyle Spitzer, The Lost Country, page 17:

To whirl in spirals as a result of a cyclone or whirlwind-like force.


hurricane

> Bislama: hariken (inherited)

→ German: Hurrikan

→ Hebrew: הוריקן (hurikan)

→ Irish: hairicín

→ Japanese: ハリケーン (Harikēn)

→ Korean: 허리케인 (heorikein)

→ Serbo-Croatian:

Latin script: hȁriken

→ Thai: เฮอริเคน (həə-rí-keen)

Etymology tree
Taíno *hurakābor.
Spanish huracánbor.
English hurricane
Borrowed from Spanish huracán, ultimately from Taíno *hurakā.

etymon

An extreme version of vorticity is a vortex. The vortex is a spinning, cyclonic mass of fluid, which can be observed in the rotation of water going down a drain, as well as in smoke rings, tornados and hurricanes.

2013 March 14, Frank Fish, George Lauder, “Not Just Going with the Flow”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 2, archived from the original on 2013-05-01, page 114:

A severe tropical cyclone in the North Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, or in the eastern North Pacific off the west coast of Mexico, with winds of 119 km/h (74 miles per hour) or greater accompanied by rain, lightning, and thunder that sometimes moves into temperate latitudes.


vane

From Middle English vane, Southern Middle English variant of fane, from Old English fana (“cloth, banner, flag”), from Proto-West Germanic *fanō, from Proto-Germanic *fanô, from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂n- (“something woven; weave; tissue; fabric; cloth”).
Cognate with Saterland Frisian Foone (“flag, banner”), Dutch vaan (“banner, flag”), German Low German Fahn (“flag”), German Fahne. Doublet of obsolete fane (“weathercock; banner”) and fanon.


gale

From Middle English gale (“a wind, breeze”), possibly from Old English galan, possibly an unknown North Germanic origin, related to Icelandic gola (“a breeze”), Danish gal (“furious, mad”), both from Old Norse gala (“to sing”), and thus ultimately related to the above word (etymology 1).

A little gale will soon disperse that cloud.

c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii]:

And winds of gentlest gale Arabian odours fanned / From their soft wings.

1671, John Milton, “The Second Book”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC:


willy willy

From Yindjibarndi wili wili (or a related language of northwest Australia).

The willy-willy roared and crackled as it approached; sucked up leaves, branches, plastic, paper and scraps of metal sheet, spiralling them into the sky and then sweeping across the camp-ground and on towards the road.

1987, Bruce Chatwin, The Songlines, Vintage, published 1998, page 97:

There were sheets of roofing iron torn off by the willy-willy of 1994, tanks with holes in them, a few other cars and tractors, and bits of machinery.

2000, John Marsden, Burning for Revenge, page 29:

2000, Blake Education staff, Terrific Topics: Middle Primary: Book 1, Blake Education, Australia, page 92,
Hurricanes, cyclones, willy-willies and typhoons are all storms with incredibly strong and powerful winds.

None of the coarser deposits have been observed to move on at any of the lander sites; however, dust accumulates and is removed both seasonally and by local wind gusts and willy willies (dust devils; Greeley et al. 2006).

2009, Keith Scott, Colin Pain, Regolith Science, page 384:

There was wind behind them and wind coming at them, fire everywhere and wind whipping up willy-willies of swirling red embers, glowing magic cones that turned everything they touched into flame.

2013, Richard Flanagan, The Narrow Road to the Deep North, Random House, published 2014, Part Five, Chapter 12:

(Australia) A whirlwind, cyclone or tornado; a dust devil.


dust devil

A dust devil may look harmless, but a large one can overturn a car.

A small atmospheric vortex appearing in clear, dry conditions, made visible by swirling dust picked up from the ground.


williwaw

The breeze in this case was the infamous north-Chicago williwaw that sometimes blows outward and bleacherward at Wrigley Field.

1982, Roger Angell, Late innings, Simon and Schuster, page 196:


twister

From Middle English twyster, equivalent to twist + -er.

Any of species Tholymis tillarga of libellulid dragonfly, of tropical West Africa to Asia, Australia, and the Pacific Islands.


leeward

en-adj

leeward (comparative more leeward, superlative most leeward or leewardmost)

more leeward (comparative)
most leeward (superlative)
leewardmost (superlative)

From lee (“side away from the wind”) + -ward (“direction”).

suffix

On the side sheltered from the wind; in that direction.


kite

The noun is from Middle English kyte, kīte, kete (“a kite endemic to Europe, especially the red kite (Milvus milvus)”), from Old English cȳta (“kite; bittern”), from Proto-West Germanic *kūtijō, diminutive of Proto-Germanic *kūts (“bird of prey”), from Proto-Indo-European *gewH-d- (“to cry, screech”). The English word is cognate with Scots kyt, kyte (“kite; bird of prey”), Middle High German kiuzelīn, kützlīn (“owling”) (modern German Kauz (“owl”)). Possibly a doublet of coot.
Sense 3 (“lightweight toy”) is from the fact that it hovers in the air like the bird.
The verb is derived from the noun.

leko

military aviation, slang: aircraft — see also aircraft

leija

sailing, slang: spinnaker — see also spinnaker

But she said, "if this was a kite, he didn't realize that you don't have the float time of the old days," which made check-kiting easier.

1991 May 21, Alex Barnum, “Suspect named in kiting case”, in San Jose Mercury News, San Jose, Calif.: Mercury Herald Co., →OCLC, page 8E:

(banking, slang) A blank cheque; a fraudulent cheque, such as one issued even though there are insufficient funds to honour it, or one that has been altered without authorization.

The advantages which are alleged to belong to the district system [of banking] are the following:— […] as each bank will have an agent in London, the bills they draw will thus have two parties as securities, and the public will have a pledge that there is no excessive issue in the form of kites or accommodation bills.

1871, James W. Gilbart, “Section XI. The Administration of Joint-stock Banks, with an Inquiry into the Causes of Their Failures.”, in The Principles and Practice of Banking, new edition, London: Bell & Daldy, […], →OCLC, part I (Of Practical Banking), pages 324–325:

accommodation bill
accommodation bill#English

(finance, slang) An accommodation bill (“a bill of exchange endorsed by a reputable third party acting as a guarantor, as a favour and without compensation”).

Our good master keeps his kites up to the last moment, studding-sails alow and aloft, and, by incessant straight steering, never loses a rod of way.

Richard Mayne (2000) “kite”, in The Language of Sailing, Chicago, Ill., Manchester: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, →ISBN, page 162

(sailing, dated) In a square-rigged ship: originally a sail positioned above a topsail; later a lightweight sail set above the topgallants, such as a studding sail or a jib topsail.


kite

en-verb

kite (third-person singular simple present kites, present participle kiting, simple past and past participle kited)

kites (present singular third-person)
kiting (participle present)
kited (participle past)
kited (past)

извисявам

to cause (something) to move upwards rapidly

He was convicted of kiting checks and sentenced to two years in prison.

“An affair of honour!” said O’Flaherty, squaring himself. He smelt powder in everything.
 “More like an affair of dishonour,” said Toole, buttoning his coat. “He’s been ‘kiting’ all over the town. Nutter can distrain for his rent to-morrow, and Cluffe called him outside the bar to speak with him; put that and that together, sir.”

1863, J[oseph] Sheridan Le Fanu, “In Which Dr. Sturk Tries This Way and That for a Reprieve on the Eve of Execution”, in The House by the Church-yard. […], volume II, London: Tinsley, Brothers, […], →OCLC, pages 65–66:

The fame and money brought in by Only in America meant no more name changes, no need to kite checks, and no sneaking past the landlord.

2015, Kimberly Marlowe Hartnett, “Scandal and Resurrection”, in Carolina Israelite: How Harry Golden Made Us Care about Jews, the South, and Civil Rights, Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina Press, →ISBN, page 163:

(transitive, intransitive, banking, slang) To write or present (a cheque) on an account with insufficient funds, either to defraud or expecting that funds will become available by the time the cheque clears.


khamsin

From Egyptian Arabic خَمْسِين (ḵamsīn, “fifty”); see khamaseen for more.

bor

That second spring the khamseen was worse than I have ever known it before or since.

1957, Lawrence Durrell, Justine, Faber, published 1968, page 121:

A hot, dry wind, common in Egypt, Sudan and the Levant towards the end of March and April, which blows (for about 50 days each year) from the desert, bringing with it hot weather and sand / sandstorms.


wester

This is properly two, if not three towns — there being an Easter Anstruther and a Wester Anstruther, both burghs, besides a large fishing village […]

1828, The Picture of Scotland, page 187:

There had been a Little and a Meikle, and an Easter and a Wester Coull two centuries ago; and there had been a castle on the property […]

1885, Alex Johnston Warden, Angus Or Forfarshire: The Land and People, Descriptive and Historical, page 204:

It is styled, as we have seen, Wester Rires, which implies an Easter Rires; and this last portion of it probably lay to the north-east, and included […]

1887, Walter Wood, The East Neuk of Fife: Its History and Antiquities, page 118:

'The fact remains that there is an Easter Fintry and a Wester Fintry in this part of the world. Just as there is an Easter Golford and a Wester Golford, ...

2011, J.I.M. Stewart, Mungo's Dream, House of Stratus, →ISBN, page 219:


whirlwind

From Middle English whirlewind, whirlewynde, equivalent to whirl + wind. Compare Middle Dutch wervelwint, Old Norse hvirfilvindr.

VVhile in the mean time there iſſued out on the Eaſt-ſide a ſtrong VVind, but pure and refreſhing, vvhich dividing into ſeveral parts that turned round became ſo many innocuous VVhirl-vvinds of ſincere Air, tinctured only vvith a cool refreſhing ſmell, as if it had paſſed over ſome large field of Lilies and Roſes.

1668, Franciscus Euistor the Palæopolite [pseudonym; Henry More], “The Fifth Dialogue”, in Divine Dialogues, Containing Sundry Disquisitions & Instructions Concerning the Attributes of God and His Providence in the World. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Joseph Downing […], published 1713, →OCLC, paragraph XXXVIII, page 515:

And his hoofs ground the rocks to fire and dust, / His strong sides made the torrents rise in spray, / And turbulence, as if a whirlwind’s gust / Surrounded us; […]

1818, Percy Bysshe Shelley, “(please specify the page)”, in The Revolt of Islam; […], London: […] [F]or C[harles] and J[ames] Ollier, […]; by B[uchanan] M‘Millan, […], →OCLC, (please specify the stanza number):

A windstorm of limited extent, such as a tornado, dust devil, or waterspout, characterized by an inward spiral motion of the air with an upward current in the center; a vortex of air.

shakullinë

violent windstorm of limited extent characterized by an inward spiral motion of the air


levanter

* (wind): Levant + -er; Compare French faire voile en Levant (“to sail eastward”), figuratively: to flee eastward, literally: set the sail with the Levant, an easterly wind that blows in the western Mediterranean Sea and southern France.
* (person): levant + -er

cog

An Easterly wind that blows from the Mediterranean, through the straits of Gibraltar to the Atlantic.


zephyr

From Latin zephyrus (“west wind”), from Ancient Greek Ζέφυρος (Zéphuros). Doublet of zefir, zéphire, Zephyr, and Zephyrus. The confectionery sense is a semantic loan from Russian зефи́р (zefír).

sl

The Western [winds] have been Counted the mildest, & most Auspicious of all others; and were so highly in favour with the Poets, that they thought them worthy of the Golden Age, and to refresh the Elysian groves. [...] But though the Breathing Zephyrs are so much celebrated in Poems and Romances, and happily were kinder to the delicious countries of Italy, & Greece, yet wee find no lesse malignity in their natures from particular accidents and climats, then what wee have observ’d of other Winds.

1671, R. Bohun, A Discourse Concerning the Origine and Properties of Wind, Oxford: Tho. Bowman, pages 149–150:

O thou Goddeſſe, / Thou diuine Nature; thou^([sic – meaning how]) thy ſelfe thou blazon'ſt / In theſe two Princely Boyes: they are as gentle / As Zephires blowing below the Violet, / Not wagging his ſweet head; [...]

1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii], page 388, column 2:

The eaſterly or trade winds, which generally blow between the Tropics, are extremely refreſhing to the coaſt of Guiana, between the hours of eight or ten in the morning, and ſix o'clock in the evening, when they ceaſe to operate, and a zephyr is ſcarcely ever heard to whiſper during the night.

1796, J[ohn] G[abriel] Stedman, chapter II, in Narrative of a Five Years’ Expedition against the Revolted Negroes of Surinam, in Guiana, on the Wild Coast of South America; […], volume I, London: J[oseph] Johnson, […], and J. Edwards, […], →OCLC, page 31:

The dusk of evening came on, soft in its solemnity, and unoppressive even in its gloom, under the sweet sky and unmolested zephyr, casting its pleasant shadows along the edges of the grove.

1835, William Gilmore Simms, The Partisan, Harper, Chapter XI, page 135:

It [a house] stood on a sharp bleak corner, where that tempestuous wind Euroclydon kept up a worse howling than ever it did about poor Paul's tossed craft. Euroclydon, nevertheless, is a mighty pleasant zephyr to any one in-doors, with his feet on the hob quietly toasting for bed.

1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “The Carpet-bag”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 10:

Any light refreshing wind; a gentle breeze.

զեփյուռ

light refreshing wind; a gentle breeze — see also breeze


zephyr

en-verb

zephyr (third-person singular simple present zephyrs, present participle zephyring, simple past and past participle zephyred)

zephyrs (present singular third-person)
zephyring (participle present)
zephyred (participle past)
zephyred (past)

There was a time
When the soft zephyring spring came joyfully,
Like a young bride, with bloom upon her cheek—

1879, Robert Stephen Hawker, “An Inscription for an Aged Oak”, in The Poetical Works, London: The Bodley Head, page 171:

There was a sudden scrambling and thumping overhead and hot exclamations zephyred down to them.

1908, Clarence E. Mulford, chapter 4, in The Coming of Hopalong Cassidy, New York: Grosset & Dunlap, page 60:

But there was a new afflation— / An aura zephyring round, / That care infected not: [...]

1922, Thomas Hardy, “An Experience”, in Late Lyrics and Earlier with Many Other Verses, London: Macmillan and Co., […], →OCLC, stanza 2, page 111:

(intransitive, poetic) To blow or move like a zephyr, or light breeze.

1849, letter from Leonidas Lent Hamline dated 15 December, 1849, in Walter Clark Palmer, Life and Letters of Leonidas L. Hamline, D.D., New York: Carlton & Porter, 1866, Chapter 15, p. 361,
He was a fragrant poison, a zephyred pestilence spread through all the city.

1914, Leonard Lanson Cline, untitled sonnet in Poems, Boston: The Poet Lore Company, p. 76,
Ah, but the skies are joyous in the spring,
From dawn to dusk exuberantly blue;
White-tufted oftentimes with clouds that do
But wanton in heaven’s zephyred merrying!

1914, Juliane Paulsen (pseudonym of Juliane Grace Hansen), “Poppy Fantasy” in And Then Came Spring, Boston: The Gorham Press, p. 49,
Oh, graciously she led my soul within
Where ever and forever went a wind
In zephyred streams of poppies coursing sweet
About the place, and waves of poppy heat
About us there.

(transitive, poetic) To blow or blow on gently like a zephyr; to cool or refresh with a gentle breeze.


wind chimes

(music) A chime constructed from tubes, rods, bells, etc. made of wood, glass, metal or ceramic, suspended outside a building in such a way that they tinkle pleasantly when moved by the wind.

бятърни камбанки

chime made from suspended wooden, metal, etc. tubes, bells and rods that tinkle when moved by the wind


northern

en-adj

northern (comparative more northern, superlative most northern)

more northern (comparative)
most northern (superlative)

From Middle English northerne, from Old English norþerne, from Proto-West Germanic *norþrōnī, from Proto-Germanic *nurþrōnijaz. Cognate with Old High German nordrōni and Old Norse norrœnn.
Morphologically north + -ern.

Les Dawson was a famous northern comedian.

(British) Characteristic of the North of England (usually capitalised)


sailing

From Middle English saylinge, seilinge, variants of sailende, seilende; equivalent to sail + -ing. Cognate with Dutch zeilend (“sailing”).


sailing

en-noun

sailing (countable and uncountable, plural sailings)

From Middle English sailyng, seyling, from Old English seġling, seġlung (“sailing”), from Proto-West Germanic *siglingu, *seglungu, from Proto-Germanic *siglingō (“sailing”); equivalent to sail + -ing. Cognate with Middle Low German sēgelinge (“sailing”), Swedish segling (“sailing”), Icelandic sigling (“sailing”).

Motion across a body of water in a craft powered by the wind, as a sport or otherwise

Navigation; the skill needed to operate and navigate a vessel


windy

en-adj

windy (comparative windier, superlative windiest)

windier (comparative)
windiest (superlative)

From Middle English windy, from Old English windiġ (“windy”), from Proto-Germanic *windigaz (“windy”), equivalent to wind + -y. Cognate with Saterland Frisian wiendich (“windy”), West Frisian winich (“windy”), Dutch winderig (“windy”), German Low German windig (“windy”), German windig (“windy”), Swedish vindig (“windy”), Icelandic vindugur (“windy”).

It was a long and windy night.

They shagged in a windy bus shelter.

I am not come hither to contend with the King of Witchland in windy railing, but to match my strength against his, sinew against sinew.

1922, E[ric] R[ücker] Eddison, The Worm Ouroboros, London: Jonathan Cape, page 21:


windy

(of a path etc) Having many bends; winding, twisting or tortuous.


gust

en-verb

gust (third-person singular simple present gusts, present participle gusting, simple past and past participle gusted)

gusts (present singular third-person)
gusting (participle present)
gusted (participle past)
gusted (past)

From Middle English gusten (“to taste, have a taste for”), from the noun (see above).


Beaufort scale

Created by Irish hydrographer and British navy officer Francis Beaufort in 1806.

(nautical) An empirical measure for the intensity of the wind based mainly on the state of the sea or wave conditions.

ビューフォート風力階級

ビューフォートふうりょくかいきゅう


waterspout

A whirlwind that forms over water, not associated with a mesocyclone of a thunderstorm (contrary to a true tornado).


weathercock

From Middle English wetharcoke, weþercok, wedercoc, wederkok, equivalent to weather + cock.

A weather vane, sometimes in the form of a cockerel.

(chiefly Canada, US) A kind of wind pump whose top behaves like a weather vane, moving with the wind direction, but which also has a wheel attached to measure wind speed.


weathercock

en-verb

weathercock (third-person singular simple present weathercocks, present participle weathercocking, simple past and past participle weathercocked)

weathercocks (present singular third-person)
weathercocking (participle present)
weathercocked (participle past)
weathercocked (past)

(intransitive, of a boat) To turn upwind because of the difference in water pressure on two sides.


weather vane

From the graveyard gate one can count a dozen gayly painted farmhouses; the gilded weather-vanes on the big red barns wink at each other across the green and brown and yellow fields.

1913, Willa Cather, “Neighboring Fields, I”, in O Pioneers!:

This one is surmounted by a clock-tower with a bent weather-vane - the latter being the only disorderly object in sight.

1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 164:

A mechanical device rotating around one axis and attached to an elevated object such as a roof for showing the direction of the wind.

دَوَّارَة رِيَاح

a device showing the direction of the wind


westerly

A road that runs due west from Dale passes the village church and Dale Castle, and a footpath continues to Westdale Bay, a sandy beach used by surfers when the westerlies send great rollers crashing in from the Atlantic.

1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 141:

A westerly wind or storm, one blowing or coming from the west.


windpump

A structure somewhat like a windmill for pumping water, either for drainage or for irrigation


windscreen

Oh no! A vandal has just smashed our windscreen! Susan, can you go and call the insurance company?

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) A transparent screen made of glass, located at the front of a vehicle in order to protect its occupants from the wind and weather.


windswept

en-adj

windswept (comparative more windswept, superlative most windswept)

more windswept (comparative)
most windswept (superlative)

We struggled over the windswept moorland.

A noteworthy engineering feature on this line was the Owencarrow Viaduct, situated in one of the most windswept portions of the line. On January 30, 1925, a train was blown off the viaduct during a gale, and thereafter trains were prohibited from crossing when the wind exceeded a certain velocity.

1953 October, H. C. Casserley, “Closure of the Londonderry & Lough Swilly Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 703:

20 January 2017, Donald Trump, Inauguration Speech
And whether a child is born in the urban sprawl of Detroit or the windswept plains of Nebraska, they look up at the same night sky, they fill their heart with the same dreams, and they are infused with the breath of life by the same almighty Creator.


windshield

The freezing rain covered our windshield with ice and we couldn't see a thing.

(Canada, US, Philippines) A transparent screen made of glass, located at the front and back of a vehicle in front of its occupants to protect them from the wind force generated by the vehicle's speed and inclement weather.

bitaʼ

screen located in front of a vehicle to protect from wind and weather


wind farm

From wind + farm, from the idea that the wind turbines are “farming” the wind to produce electricity.

Then roughly 176 wind generators of 1.8 megawatts each would be located at each wind farm affecting an area of 15 × 176 or 2640 acres (4.1 sq mi) but directly using only about 176 acres (0.3 sq mi).

1978, Wind Energy Study (Pacific Northwest Region): Final Report, page 204:

The windy weather last weekend set a new renewable power record and resulted in some households being paid to charge their electric cars to help balance the grid. Wind farms in Britain generated more than 16 gigawatts of power for the first time on Sunday evening.

2019 December 10, “Stormy weather blows in new wind power record”, in Chris Evans, editor, The Daily Telegraph, London: Telegraph Media Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 2:

Rob Schofield, proprietor of Nundle's only pub, […] feels that the windfarm could bring a much-needed boost to the town, which lost jobs after the amalgamation of Nundle Shire Council with Tamworth Regional Council.

2021 October 23, Tom Plevey, “Reaping the wind turbines: The little town in the Great Dividing Range split by green energy plan”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2021-12-02:

A collection of wind turbines, especially a large-scale array, used to generate electricity.

集合型風力発電所

しゅうごうがたふうりょくはつでんしょ


windmill

From Middle English wyndmylne, wyndmylle, equivalent to wind + mill. Cognate with Scots wyndmyln, wyndmyl, Saterland Frisian Wíendmäälne, West Frisian wynmûne, Dutch windmolen, Afrikaans windmeul, Dutch Low Saxon windmölle (Achterhooks), wiendmeule (Drents, Veluws), German Low German Windmöhl, German Windmühle, Danish vindmølle, Norwegian Bokmål vindmølle, Norwegian Nynorsk vindmølle, vindmylne, Swedish vindmölla, Icelandic vindmylla.

A child's toy consisting of vanes mounted on a stick that rotate when blown by a person or by the wind.


bora

Birribirai, a youth not yet admitted to a bora.

1873, William Ridley, “Report on Australian Languages and Traditions”, in The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, volume 2:

By far the most important among the ceremonies practised by the aborigines of New South Wales is the Bora, at which youths are initiated to manhood...

1885, A. L. P. Cameron, “Notes on some Tribes of New South Wales”, in The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, volume 14:

An initiation ceremony for males among the Aboriginal people of New South Wales.


tailwind

(nautical, physics) A wind that blows in the same direction as the course taken by an aircraft, sailing ship, bird, etc.

medvind

a wind that blows in the same direction as the course of an aircraft or ship


headwind

From Middle English *hedwind, from Old English hēafodwind, equivalent to head + wind. Cognate with Old Norse höfuðvindr.

(nautical, physics) A wind that blows directly against the course of a vehicle, like an aircraft, train, or ship.


windfall

LL-Q1860 (eng)-عُثمان (Middle river exports)-windfall.wav

From Middle English windfal, wyndfall, equivalent to wind + fall. Cognate with Middle High German wintval, wintfal, German Windfall.

Something that has been blown down by the wind.

ветрова́л

something that has been blown down by the wind


Zephyr

For a Tempeſt. Take Eurus, Zephyr, Auſter and Boreas, and caſt them together in one Verſe. Add to theſe of Rain, Lightning, and of Thunder (the loudeſt you can) quantum ſufficit. Mix your Clouds and Billows well together till they foam, and thicken your Deſcription here and there with a Quickſand. Brew your Tempeſt well in your Head, before you ſet it a blowing.

1714 June 10, [Alexander Pope], The Guardian, volume I, number 78, London: Printed for J[acob] Tonson, at Shakespear's-Head over-against Catherine-street in the Strand, page 332:

(Greek mythology) The god of the West Wind.


cleg

From Middle English clege, from Old Norse kleggi, possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *glōgʰ-s (“point”); compare with Norwegian Nynorsk klegg, Ancient Greek γλωχίς (glōkhís, “barb”).


easter

From Old English eastera, eastra. Compare norther, souther, wester.

A northeaster in one place may be an easter, a norther, or a souther in some other locality.

1902, John Burroughs, Locusts and Wild Honey, page 81:

A strong easterly wind (a wind blowing from the east).


upwind

upwind (comparative more upwind, superlative most upwind)

more upwind (comparative)
most upwind (superlative)


upwind

in the direction from which the wind is blowing


upwind

en-verb

upwind (third-person singular simple present upwinds, present participle upwinding, simple past and past participle upwound)

upwinds (present singular third-person)
upwinding (participle present)
upwound (participle past)
upwound (past)

From Middle English upwinden, equivalent to up- + wind (verb).

The cries of all on board were drowned in wind,
And wind in thunder drowned;
With useless sails upwound.

Tell me not of a huge machine, / Going like a clock upwound; / All measured out each space between, / Marked out each weary round.

1878, Charlotte Mary Yonge, The Disturbing Element, Or, Chronicles of the Blue-Bell Society:

(transitive, archaic) To wind up (a mechanism).


squall

→ Polish: szkwał

→ Russian: шквал (škval)

→ Ukrainian: шквал (škval)

From Middle English *squalen and squelen (“to cry, scream, squall”), from Old Norse skvala (“to cry out”), probably ultimately imitative with influence from squeal and bawl.
Cognate with Swedish skvala (“to gush, pour down”), Norwegian skval (“sudden rush of water”). The noun is probably from the verb.

onomatopoeic

imitative

cog

(meteorology) A squall line, multicell line, or part of a squall line.


scud

en-adj

scud (comparative more scud, superlative most scud)

more scud (comparative)
most scud (superlative)

From Middle English scud (“incrustation, scurf, scab, peel, shedding”), perhaps from Old Norse skjóta (“to shoot, push, throw off, shed”).


scud

en-noun

scud (countable and uncountable, plural scuds)

(slang, uncountable, Scotland) Pornography.

a bottle of scud

(slang, uncountable, Scotland) The drink Irn-Bru.


macroburst

(meteorology) A strong downdraft, of over 2.5 miles in diameter, that can cause damaging winds.


microburst

This resulted in the aircraft’s encounter at low altitude with a microburst-induced, severe wind shear from a rapidly developing thunderstorm located on the final approach course.

1986 August 15, National Transportation Safety Board, “Synopsis”, in Aircraft Accident Report: Delta Air Lines, Inc., Lockheed L-1011-385-1, N726DA, Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, Texas, August 2, 1985, archived from the original on 2021-03-18, page 1:

(meteorology) A strong downdraft, of less than 2.5 miles in diameter, that can cause damaging winds and powerful wind shear.


flurry

Perhaps an American English blend of flutter and hurry. Alternatively, perhaps from an obsolete term flurr (“scatter”).

A shower of dust, leaves etc. brought on by a sudden gust of wind.


jet stream

(meteorology) any of the high-speed, high-altitude air currents that circle the Earth in a westerly direction


breathless

en-adj

breathless (comparative more breathless, superlative most breathless)

more breathless (comparative)
most breathless (superlative)


southerly buster

en-noun

southerly buster (plural southerly busters)

1850, B. C. Peck, Recollections of Sydney, quoted in 1978, G. A. Wilkes, A Dictionary of Australian Colloquialisms, →ISBN,
It is almost a corollary, that the evening of a hot-wind day brings up a ‘southerly buster’, as we have heard the vulgar call it, very chill indeed ... as this wind comes from the southerly region of the Australian Alps.

We sighted land with a strong gale blowing, and on reaching Fremantle found no less than six ships hard and fast ashore; the harbour, unfortunately, is exposed to the full force of what is known in those parts as a "Southerly Buster," and huge green rollers were tumbling and tossing in all directions.

1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 197:

It was a brilliant day; a southerly buster was raging[.]

1900, Joseph Conrad, Lord Jim, page xiii. 106:

1995, Journal of Meteorology, Volume 20, Issues 200-204, page 213,
Some southerly busters have roll-clouds or lines of cumulus congestus, but these are uncommon.

1997, Peter Baines, Kathy McInnes, 24. The southerly buster, Eric Kenneth Webb (editor), Windows on Meteorology: Australian Perspective, unnumbered page,
The southerly buster is a particularly abrupt form of cold front which affects the New South Wales south coastal region, ranging from about Gabo Island to Port Macquarie.

(Australia, chiefly New South Wales and Western Australia) A summer cold front which works its way up the coast, bringing strong cool southerly winds that replaces and relieves hot conditions.


sirocco

From Italian scirocco (“south-east wind”).

This tolerance and largeur of the heart that ‘forgives’ everything because it ‘understands’ everything, is sirocco for us.

1888, Friedrich Nietzsche, The Antichrist 1:

But come, the board is spread; our silver lamp / Is trimm’d, and heeds not the sirocco’s damp.

A hot and often strong southerly to southeasterly wind on the Mediterranean that originates in the Sahara and adjacent North African regions.


easterly

(meteorology) Any persistent wind from the east (usually applied to broad currents or belts of easterly winds).


easterly

en-adj

easterly (comparative more easterly, superlative most easterly)

more easterly (comparative)
most easterly (superlative)

an easterly wind


Auster

(Roman mythology) The god of the south wind.

Auster and Aquilon with winged Steeds
All ſweating, tilt about the watery heauens,
With ſhiuering ſpeares enforcing thunderclaps,
And from their ſhields ſtrike flames of lightening

c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act III, scene ii:

‘My homeland too,’ Aetius grinned. ‘I was born under the Auster.’

1989, Anthony Burgess, “Hun”, in The Devil's Mode:

(poetic) The south wind, especially when personified.


gregale

/ɡɹeɪˈɡɑːleɪ/

From Italian grecale, apparently representing a late Latin noun from Graecus (“Greek”).

The dog days have ended, the maijstral has ceased to blow. Soon the other wind called gregale will bring the gentle rains to solemnize the sowing of our red wheat.

A strong Mediterranean wind blowing from the north-east.


etesian

From Latin etesius (“annual”), from Ancient Greek ἐτήσιος (etḗsios, “annual”), from ἔτος (étos, “year”).

uder

Is it from those etesian winds, or melting of snow in the mountains under the Equator […], or from those great dropping perpetual showers […]?

[…] Dixon, assailed without mercy by his Sensorium, almost in a swoon, finds himself, on Nights of Cloud, less and less able to forgo emerging at dusk, cloaked against the Etesian wind, and making directly for the prohibited parts of town.

1997, Thomas Pynchon, Mason & Dixon, New York: Henry Holt and Company, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 77:

Pertaining to a dry north wind which blows in the eastern Mediterranean.

etesi

pertaining to a specific eastern Mediterranean wind


etesian

[...] I have in England for ſome years paſt, kept by me an exact table, or Ephemeris both of the Vernall, and Summer Eteſians; but found the VVinds no leſſe Variable in thoſe Months, then at other Seaſons.

1671, R[alph] Bohun, “[Of the Etesian, or Anniversary VVinds: Their Several Species]”, in A Discourse Concerning the Origine and Properties of VVind. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed by W. Hall for Tho[mas] Bowman, →OCLC, pages 118–119:

A dry north wind which blows in the eastern Mediterranean.


mistral

Borrowed from Middle French mistral, from Occitan. Doublet of magistral.

I saw him, the sea gray under the mistral and foam-flecked, watching the vanishing coast of France, which he was destined never to see again; and I thought there was something gallant in his bearing and dauntless in his soul.

1919, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, “chapter 48”, in The Moon and Sixpence, [New York, N.Y.]: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers […], →OCLC:

The mistral had been blowing for three days now and the sea showed more white than blue

A strong cold north-west wind in southern France and the Mediterranean.


bluster

en-noun

bluster (countable and uncountable, plural blusters)

From Middle English blusteren (“to wander about aimlessly”); however, apparently picking up the modern sense from Middle Low German blüstren (“to blow violently”; compare later Low German blustern, blistern). Related to blow, blast. Compare also Saterland Frisian bloasje (“to blow”), bruusje (“to bluster”).


northeasterly

en-adj

northeasterly (comparative more northeasterly, superlative most northeasterly)

more northeasterly (comparative)
most northeasterly (superlative)

(of a wind etc) Coming from the northeast.


chinook

Borrowed from Lower Chehalis c̓inúk (“the name of a Chinook village on the Columbia River”).

bor+

(Canada, US, physics, meteorology) The descending, warm, dry wind on the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains that generally blows from the southwest and can rapidly increase the temperature due to the much warmer air it brings.

chinook-tuuli

the descending, warm, dry wind on the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains

Oncorhynchus tshawytscha
Oncorhynchus tshawytscha#Translingual

The chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha).


foul wind

We lost several hours having to tack into a foul wind just off the coast.

(nautical) A wind blowing against the direction of travel.


fair wind

(nautical) A favourable wind, i.e. one blowing in the desired direction of travel for the vessel.


wind shear

en-noun

wind shear (countable and uncountable, plural wind shears)

Wind shear from a microburst, as compared to wind shear resulting from a gust front, is particularly hazardous because it is a short-period event which creates very strong wind gusts with a large variation in direction over a very short distance (1/2 to 2 1/2 miles in diameter).

1985 March 21, National Transportation Safety Board, “1.7.3 Weather Analysis”, in Aircraft Accident Report: United Airlines Flight 663, Boeing 727-222, N7647U, Denver, Colorado, May 31, 1984, page 14:

(meteorology, weather, aviation, uncountable) Variation in wind speed or direction over a short spatial distance.

The first effect of a wind shear was detected at 34 to 42 seconds into the takeoff, at a speed of about 115 KIAS with the airplane about 3,800 feet down the runway. An average shear rate of about 2.5 knots per second resulted in an interruption in acceleration at this point with the airspeed remaining at 115 to 120 KIAS for 7 to 10 seconds.

1985 March 21, National Transportation Safety Board, “2.3 Airplane Takeoff Performance”, in Aircraft Accident Report: United Airlines Flight 663, Boeing 727-222, N7647U, Denver, Colorado, May 31, 1984, page 41:

(meteorology, weather, aviation, countable) A specific instance of variation in wind speed or direction over a short spatial distance.


gradient wind

constant pressure surface
constant pressure surface

(meteorology) A horizontal wind velocity tangent to the contour line of a constant pressure surface (or to the isobar of a geopotential surface) at or above 2,500 feet (762 meters).


katabatic wind

(climatology) A drainage wind or a fall wind: a wind, such as the bora or Bohemian wind, which moves high density air from a higher elevation down an incline, due to the force of gravity.


downdraft

(meteorology, American spelling) A strong, downward air current; an air pocket or air hole.


foehn

Borrowed from German Föhn, from Old High German phonno, from Vulgar Latin faōnius, an alteration of Latin favōnius (“west wind”), from Favōnius (“Roman wind god”).

The foehn and the sun must have awakened the spirits of spring way up in the heights.

1971, WW Kibler, translating Gian Fontana, ‘The Mayor of Valdei’, in Bezzola (ed.), The Curly-Horned Cow, Peter Owen 1971, p. 71

The foehns of the northern Alps are world-renowned for the formation of thermal belts on the alp terraces above the deep, U-shaped, glaciated valleys. Here the foehn phenomenon was first identified and the German word for "fall" or "descent" applied to it.

1985, Paul E. Lydolph, The Climate of the Earth, Rowman & Littlefield, page 161:

A warm dry wind blowing down the north sides of the Alps, especially in Switzerland.

火燒風 /火烧风

warm dry wind blowing down the northern sides of the Alps

The foehn, I learned, was first recorded in the Alps but is found all over the world. The Santa Anas contain the occasional foehn, nicknamed “murder winds” and immortalized in Joan Didion's 1965 essay “Los Angeles Notebook"

2011, Claire Dederer, Poser: A Mother's Life in Twenty-Three Yoga Poses, Bloomsbury, page 261:

This is particularly noticeable in Foehn winds—warm winds that descend from mountainous areas down to areas of lower elevation.
Wind patterns considered Foehn include the dry southerly wind blowing through the Alps, Switzerland and across southern Germany. The Sharav or Hamsin winds blowing through the desert in the Middle East are also Foehn winds. The Sirocco winds that blow through Italy and the Mistral winds that blow through southern France are both considered Foehns.

2013, Case Adams Naturopath, Asthma Solved Naturally, Logical Books, page 111:

(meteorology) A similar katabatic wind developing on the lee side of a mountain.


hot wind

I feel a hot wind on my shoulder / And the touch of a world that is older

1982, Wall of Voodoo (lyrics and music), “Mexican Radio”, in Call of the West:

Any wind characterized by intense heat and low relative humidity


becalmed

en-adj

becalmed (comparative more becalmed, superlative most becalmed)

more becalmed (comparative)
most becalmed (superlative)

[…] when we got aſterne we grew becalm'd, land-lockt in a fort, and were ſported all the way […]

1638, Thomas Herbert, Some years travels into divers parts of Asia and Afrique:

Although the breeze had now utterly failed, we had made a great deal of way during the night, and were now lying becalmed about half a mile to the southeast of the low eastern coast.

1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC:

(nautical, of a sailing ship) Unable to move due to lack of wind.


windbreak

(see title)

1995, Terry Bolin, Rosemary Stanton, Wind Breaks: Coming to Terms with Flatulence:

Another of Roy's room-clearing wind breaks snapped my head back.

(chapter title for chapter on flatulence)

2010, Ralph Keyes, “'Windbreaks'”, in Unmentionables:

(see chapter title)

2012, Bill Tidy, Paul G. Bahn, “Wind-Breaks— Or Gone With The Wind”, in Disgraceful Archaeology:


khamaseen

en-noun

khamaseen (plural khamaseens or khamaseen)

Borrowed from Egyptian Arabic خَمَاسِين (ḵamasīn, “fifties”), plural of خَمْسُون (“fifty”).

bor+

An oppressive, hot, dusty, south or south-east wind occurring elsewhere in North Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and the Levant, intermittently in late winter through late spring.


updraft

an upward current of air, especially a strong one


windburn

en-noun

windburn (countable and uncountable, plural windburns)

Damage to a plant caused by cold and windy conditions that dry out the leaves.


windblown

en-adj

windblown (comparative more windblown, superlative most windblown)

more windblown (comparative)
most windblown (superlative)

(of a tree) growing in a distorted shape produced by the prevailing winds.

In a patch of sunlit windblown water a fish leaped from the surface.

(of seeds, leaves etc) dispersed by the wind.

(of a person) having disheveled hair blown about by the wind.


windiness

en-noun

windiness (usually uncountable, plural windinesses)

[I]t conduceth helpe to the crudities, humidities, and vvindineſſe of the ſtomacke and belly, and to helpe the ſhortneſſe of breath and coughes: […]

1640, John Parkinson, “Cyperus dulcis rotundus esculentus, Trasi dulce vocatus. The Most Delicate Sweet Cyperus, or Rush Nut.”, in Theatrum Botanicum: The Theater of Plants. Or, An Herball of a Large Extent: […], London: […] Tho[mas] Cotes, →OCLC, page 148:

The state of being windy; the state of there being wind


windstorm

A storm in which there are strong, violent winds but no precipitation.


windsock

(aviation) A large, conical, open-ended tube designed to indicate wind direction and relative wind speed, used especially at smaller airfields.

air sock

conical, open-ended tube that indicates wind direction


windsurf

en-verb

windsurf (third-person singular simple present windsurfs, present participle windsurfing, simple past and past participle windsurfed)

windsurfs (present singular third-person)
windsurfing (participle present)
windsurfed (participle past)
windsurfed (past)

Stella spent the morning windsurfing in the sea.

(intransitive) To ride a surfboard that has an attached sail


windless

en-adj

windless (comparative more windless, superlative most windless)

more windless (comparative)
most windless (superlative)

From Middle English wyndles, equivalent to wind + -less. Cognate with Old Norse vindlauss (“windless”).

Ye kings of suns and stars, Dæmons and Gods, / Ætherial Dominations, who possess / Elysian, windless, fortunate abodes / Beyond Heaven’s constellated wilderness: […]

1818–1819 (date written), Percy Bysshe Shelley, “Prometheus Unbound”, in Prometheus Unbound […], London: C[harles] and J[ames] Ollier […], published 1820, →OCLC, Act IV, (please specify the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals), page 150:

“[…] It’s for life, Miss Archer, it’s for life,” Lord Warburton repeated in the kindest, tenderest, pleasantest voice Isabel had ever heard, and looking at her with eyes charged with the light of a passion that had sifted itself clear of the baser parts of emotion—the heat, the violence, the unreason—and that burned as steadily as a lamp in a windless place.

1908, Henry James, chapter XII, in The Portrait of a Lady (The Novels and Tales of Henry James; III), New York edition, volume I, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, pages 147–148; republished as The Portrait of a Lady (EBook #2833), United States: Project Gutenberg, 1 September 2001:

[W]hen the wind was that way, which was often, the house was full of the stench of this sulphurous combustion of the earth’s excrement. But even on windless days the air always smelt of something under-earth: sulphur, iron, coal, or acid.

1928, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, chapter II, in Lady Chatterley’s Lover, [Germany?]: Privately printed, →OCLC:


downwind

en-adv

downwind (comparative more downwind, superlative most downwind)

more downwind (comparative)
most downwind (superlative)

... the aftermath of the dust-storm came up and caught us both, and drove us downwind like pieces of paper.

1888, Rudyard Kipling, Plain Tales from the Hills:

in the same direction as the wind is blowing


crosswind

Correlation of the DFDR and CVR recordings disclosed that the flightcrew had set the flaps and stabilizer trim at 10° and about 5° aircraft noseup, respectively, for takeoff. A rolling takeoff was made, takeoff thrust was stabilized at 80 KIAS, and left rudder and right aileron were used to compensate for the right crosswind. The V₁ and V_R callouts were made about 2 sec after these speeds were recorded by the DFDR.

1979 December 21, National Transportation Safety Board, “1.11 Flight Recorders”, in Aircraft Accident Report: American Airlines, Inc., DC-10-10, N110AA, Chicago-O'Hare International Airport, Chicago, Illinois, May 25, 1979, archived from the original on 2022-08-17, page 4:

As part of its application, Macy's submitted "balloon control plans" describing how handlers, under the direction of a "pilot," were to navigate through intersections, where crosswinds can destabilize the balloons.

2005 November 27, Sewell Chan, “Site of Balloon Accident Is Known for Its Crosswinds”, in The New York Times:

A wind blowing across a line of travel, especially perpendicularly.


gusty

en-adj

gusty (comparative gustier, superlative gustiest)

gustier (comparative)
gustiest (superlative)

The wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees, / The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas, / The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor, / And the highwayman came riding— / Riding—riding— / The highwayman came riding, up to the old inn-door.

1906 August, Alfred Noyes, “The Highwayman”, in Poems, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., published October 1906, →OCLC, part 1, stanza I, page 45:

Of wind: blowing in gusts; blustery; tempestuous.


wind rose

(meteorology) A diagram in which the speed and direction of the winds at a particular location are represented by lines of varying thickness and length superimposed on a compass rose.


wind tunnel

But unlike many other tunnels that lay idle and decaying, Catesby has now found a new use as an aerodynamic wind tunnel for the motor industry.

2023 November 29, Peter Plisner, “The winds of change in Catesby Tunnel”, in RAIL, number 997, page 56:

A test facility through which air is forced in a controlled manner so as to study the effects of flow around airfoils, aircraft, motor cars etc.


Santa Ana wind

From Santa Ana, formerly a Spanish settlement in southern California + wind. But see also Santana wind.

2004, Coincidentally, Santa Barbara's modern record temperature of 115° also occurred on June 17, in 1917, and under the influence of a Santa Ana wind. — Christopher C Burt, Extreme Weather: A Guide and Record Book →ISBN p. 254

1968, A splintered tree stump on Euclid Avenue in Upland illustrates the effects of a Santa Ana wind in 1953—the worst ever to hit the area. — Automobile Club of Southern California, Westways (special issue), page 7:

2001, This essay about the Santa Ana wind of southern California does more than leave us with an image, it creates deep within us a mood. — Theodore A. Rees Cheney, Writing Creative Nonfiction: Fiction Techniques for Crafting Great Nonfiction →ISBN p. 27

A foehn occurring during certain weather conditions in Southern California coastal areas.


rainstorm

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-rainstorm.wav

Philander went into the next room[…]and came back with a salt mackerel that dripped brine like a rainstorm. Then he put the coffee pot on the stove and rummaged out a loaf of dry bread and some hardtack.

1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter VIII, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:

To make matters worse, we pass through a torrential rainstorm, which makes window-gazing almost impossible, leaving me glad that the trip is less than 30 minutes duration.

2022 November 16, Paul Bigland, “From rural branches to high-speed arteries”, in RAIL, number 970, page 55:

A storm characterized by substantial, heavy rainfall.

поро́й

storm characterized by substantial rainfall


wind chill

en-noun

wind chill (countable and uncountable, plural wind chills)

The thermometer says zero, but with the wind chill it's more like minus five.

(meteorology) The cooling effect of wind, especially on the human body, which causes the "feels like" temperature to be lower than the thermometer temperature.

(loosely) The still-air temperature equivalent to a given combination of temperature and wind speed, as far as its cooling effect on exposed flesh is concerned


hail storm

A storm characterized by lots of large hail.

雹暴

a storm characterized by lots of large hail


north wind

From Old English norþwind, corresponding to north (originally an adverb) + wind. Compare Dutch noordwind, German Nordwind.


wind power

wind energy

broadly synonymous despite precise differentiability of energy from power (energy per time unit)


blowy

en-adj

blowy (comparative blowier, superlative blowiest)

blowier (comparative)
blowiest (superlative)

[…] I remember now. You had the sun behind you, filtering through your amazing blowy hair, red hair […]

2012, Dawn French, chapter 16, in Oh Dear Silvia, Penguin:

A panoramic view of all the lives ruined by the financial markets, from the midlevel banker just trying to meet her monthly quota to the overly loyal gangster who doesn’t realize that loud, blowy Hawaiian shirts are the opposite of subtle.

2013 October 17, Hua Hsu, “King of Hong Kong: Johnnie To and the violent, inventive evolution of H.K. cinema”, in Grantland:

Billowy, blowing or waving in the wind. (of fabric, hair, etc.)


pinwheel

An artificial flower with a stem, usually plastic, for children: the flower spins round in the wind, like a small paper windmill.


southeaster

A strong wind blowing from the southeast.


sou'wester

For a spell we done pretty well. Then there came a reg'lar terror of a sou'wester same as you don't get one summer in a thousand, and blowed the shanty flat and ripped about half of the weir poles out of the sand.

1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:

Alternative form of southwester (“wind”)

As he sat there with a sou'wester down over his ears, in a long pilot coat, his figure appeared in the misty morning air to assume quite supernatural proportions, and you might almost imagine that you had one of the old Vikings before you.

1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 181:

Joe Crowe was perched in the driving-seat, clad in oil-skins and sou'-wester, crouched in the rain, clutching two iron buckets.

1938, Xavier Herbert, chapter X, in Capricornia, New York: D. Appleton-Century, published 1943, page 165:

Alternative form of southwester (“waterproof hat”)


southwesterly

southwesterly (comparative more southwesterly, superlative most southwesterly)

more southwesterly (comparative)
most southwesterly (superlative)

(chiefly of a wind) coming from the southwest


southwester

Have you ever stood at the edge of a great wood on a high ridge when a wild south-wester broke over it in full fury on an autumn evening?

1951, C. S. Lewis, Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia:

A strong wind blowing from the southwest.

(more often sou'wester) A waterproof hat, often of oilskin and with a long brim at the back covering the neck, designed to repel wind and rain.

(more often sou'wester) A long raincoat, often worn at sea.


northwester

A strong wind blowing from the northwest.


northwesterly

northwesterly (comparative more northwesterly, superlative most northwesterly)

more northwesterly (comparative)
most northwesterly (superlative)

(chiefly of a wind) Coming from the northwest.


northeaster

An extratropical storm, usually found in coastal New England and Atlantic Canada, whose winds usually come from the northeast.


norther

/ˈnɔː(ɹ)θə(ɹ)/

/ˈnɔː(ɹ)ðə(ɹ)/

Brisk winds from the south for several days in Texas are generally followed by a "norther."

1882, Signal Service Notes - Issues 1-20, page 87:

Keep her going South-South East as fast as she'll take it, Shelby. It'll be a wet ride till we get outside the stream with this Norther.

2010, Barry Warburton, Chasseur & St Lawrence, page 18:

A strong north wind, a wind blowing from the north.


norther

en-verb

norther (third-person singular simple present northers, present participle northering, simple past and past participle northered)

northers (present singular third-person)
northering (participle present)
northered (participle past)
northered (past)

/ˈnɔː(ɹ)θə(ɹ)/

/ˈnɔː(ɹ)ðə(ɹ)/

The 23 February 1667 Sunday. All the morning flat calm until after six. At the coming away of the ebb sprang up a small gale at W.N.W. and N.W. by W., that we stretched along the shore toward the Ness, S.W. course. The wind northered and came easterly, a small gale. We stayed for our boat until one, which we had sent to search 4 French shallops that assured lay there to lade wool.

1667, record quoted in 1940, Publications of the Navy Records Society, page 8

Att noone it came S. afterwardes westerly, and after sunnesett it northered, and blew a verie stiffe gale; some raine.

1868, Works of the Camden Society, page 74:

(of wind) To blow from (closer to) the north, pushing ships (etc) towards the south; to have its apparent source shift northward.


bise

A cold, dry, northerly wind in France, Switzerland, etc.


ghibli

From Italian ghibli, from the Libyan Arabic form of Standard Arabic قِبْلِيّ (qibliyy, “coming from the qibla”), pronounced with an initial [ɡ] in Libyan Arabic.

der

Strong the Ghiblee wind is blowing, / Strange and large the world is growing!

1895, John Greenleaf Whittier, “Song of Slaves in the Desert”, in The Complete Poetical Works of John Greenleaf Whittier, Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, page 301:


light air

(meteorology, nautical) A light wind with wind speed between 0.3 and 1.5 m/s; a Force 1 wind strength on the Beaufort scale.


harmattan

/ˌhɑːməˈtæn/

/ˌhɑːˈmætən/

/ˌhɑɹməˈtæn/

/ˌhɑɹməˈtɑn/

/ˌhɑɹˈmætən/

From Twi Akan haramata or a related word (whence also Spanish harmatán). The ultimate origin is supposed by some to be an Arabic word, but which one is uncertain; حَرَام (ḥarām, “accursed thing”) has been suggested.

Storm-clouds stretched their arms across the sky; from the east, to all appearances, might come a fierce harmattan, or from the south might come the fierce hurricane.

1900, Joshua Slocum, Sailing Alone Around the World:

That was many years ago, twenty years or more, and during this time Okonkwo's fame had grown like a bush-fire in the harmattan.

1958, Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart, New York: Astor-Honor, published 1959, page 1:

A dry and dusty wind which blows from the Sahara over the Atlantic coast of West Africa in December, January and February, being a hot wind in some areas and a cold wind in others.


Euroclydon

From Hellenistic Ancient Greek εὐροκλύδων (euroklúdōn), from εὖρος (eûros, “east wind”) + κλύδων (klúdōn, “wave”).

It stood on a sharp bleak corner, where that tempestuous wind Euroclydon kept up a worse howling than ever it did about poor Paul's tossed craft. Euroclydon, nevertheless, is a mighty pleasant zephyr to any one in-doors, with his feet on the hob quietly toasting for bed.

A stormy northeasterly wind mentioned in the Bible (Acts 27:14); any rough wind or storm.


vendaval

From Galician vendaval, Spanish vendaval, or a related term.

The vendaval gives unequivocal signs of its approach. If the easterly wind be blowing, it will veer to the S.E., the sky will become obscured and the coast concealed, […]

1870, R. H. Wyman, Winds, currents, and navigation of the Gulf of Cadiz, the Western Coast of the Spanish Peninsula, and the Strait of Gibraltar, page 4:

Setting sail, then, with the vendaval, within a short time they reached the outside of the channel . The ships sailing from Manila do not do this, and are much delayed, because they must run a greater distance within the channel and among ...

1905, Emma Helen Blair, James Alexander Robertson, The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803, page 175:

This navigation should not be made at any other season, for from June the vendavals blow, and they are contrary to the voyage. As a rule, these ships sail and are despatched at the end of February, or at the latest by the twentieth of March.

1915, Emma Helen Blair, The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898: Relating to China and the Chinese:

The vendaval occurs mainly in the cool season, and it is most frequent from October to November and February to March.

1975, United States. Defense Mapping Agency. Hydrographic Center, Sailing Directions (planning Guide) for the Mediterranean, page 49

A westerly wind, especially one that blows into the Mediterranean Sea around the area of the Straits of Gibraltar and Morocco, or a similar wind in the Philippines.


imbat

A widespread word in the Mediterranean related to Latin battuo (“beat, strike”). Possibly directly from Ottoman Turkish ایمبات (imbat, “sea breeze; etesian”). Doublet of limbat.

bor

A type of dry north wind which blows in the eastern Mediterranean.


tramontane

en-adj

tramontane (comparative more tramontane, superlative most tramontane)

more tramontane (comparative)
most tramontane (superlative)

From Old French tramontane, from Italian tramontana.

Residing in or coming from the far side of a mountain range, especially from north of the Alps.


ostro

Borrowed from Italian ostro. Doublet of Auster.


anemo-

From Ancient Greek ἄνεμος (ánemos, “wind”).


wind speed

Wind speed is measured by the conventional arrangement of three hemispherical cups, mounted at 120 deg. on a shaft which is geared to a cam.

1952 August, “Wind Velocity Records at Dawlish”, in Railway Magazine, page 545:

Like most human activities, ballooning has sponsored heroes and hucksters and a good deal in between. For every dedicated scientist patiently recording atmospheric pressure and wind speed while shivering at high altitudes, there is a carnival barker with a bevy of pretty girls willing to dangle from a basket or parachute down to earth.

2013 June 7, David Simpson, “Fantasy of navigation”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, page 36:

The climate testing ranged through temperatures of -15°C to 40°C, extreme warming from sunlight, ice, and wind speeds of up to 100kph (62mph) to check the train could still operate.

2023 November 29, Philip Haigh, “New Piccadilly Line trains put to the test”, in RAIL, number 997, page 26:

(meteorology) The local speed of the wind.


windthrow

en-noun

windthrow (countable and uncountable, plural windthrows)


windbound

en-adj

windbound (comparative more windbound, superlative most windbound)

more windbound (comparative)
most windbound (superlative)

(nautical) Unable to sail because of high winds, or of onshore winds.


anabatic

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek ᾰ̓νᾰβᾰτός (ănăbătós, “moving upward”), from ᾰ̓νᾰ- (ănă-, “up”) + βαίνω (baínō, “to go”).


shamal

A hot, dry wind that blows across the Persian Gulf during the summer


Nashi

A northeast wind which occurs in winter on the Iranian coast of the Persian Gulf.


Eurus

For a Tempeſt. Take Eurus, Zephyr, Auſter and Boreas, and caſt them together in one Verſe. Add to theſe of Rain, Lightning, and of Thunder (the loudeſt you can) quantum ſufficit. Mix your Clouds and Billows well together till they foam, and thicken your Deſcription here and there with a Quickſand. Brew your Tempeſt well in your Head, before you ſet it a blowing.

1714 June 10, [Alexander Pope], The Guardian, volume I, number 78, London: Printed for J[acob] Tonson, at Shakespear's-Head over-against Catherine-street in the Strand, page 332:

(Greek mythology) The god of the East Wind, autumn, protection, comfort, balance, preservation, change, adulthood and maturity.


Boreas

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Βορέᾱς (Boréās).

1714 June 10, [Alexander Pope], “A Receit to make an Epick Poem”, in The Guardian, volume I, number 78, London: Printed for J[acob] Tonson, at Shakespear's-Head over-against Catherine-street in the Strand, page 332:

BOREAS, one of the four Cardinal Winds, and one of the Deities of the Heathens, was the Son of Aſtræus and Aurora, and had his Seat at Thrace. Pindar calls him the King of Winds. [Footnote numbers omitted.]

1735, Pierre Bayle with Pierre des Maizeaux, The Dictionary Historical and Critical of Mr Peter Bayle. The Second Edition, Carefully Collated with the Several Editions of the Original; in which many Passages are Restored, and the Whole Greatly Augmented, particularly with a Translation of the Quotations from Eminent Writers in Various Languages. To which is Prefixed, the Life of the Author, Revised, Corrected, and Enlarged, by Mr Des Maizeaux, Fellow of the Royal Society, 2nd edition, volume II, London: Printed for J. J. and P. Knapton; [et al.], →OCLC, page 78:

Orithya was the daughter of Erectheus, and the prieſteſs of Boreas; for each of the winds has a preſiding deity, which the teleſtic art, or the art pertaining to ſacred myſteries, religiouſly cultivates. […] Orithya, therefore, becoming enthusiastic, being poſſeſſed by her proper God Boreas, and no longer energizing as a human being (for animals ceaſe to energize according to their own peculiarities, when poſſeſſed by ſuperior causes), died under the inſpiring influence, and thus was ſaid to have been raviſhed by Boreas.

1804, Plato, “The Phædrus”, in Floyer Sydenham, Thomas Taylor, transl., The Works of Plato, viz. His Fifty-five Dialogues, and Twelve Epistles, Translated from the Greek; Nine of the Dialogues by the Late Floyer Sydenham, and the Remainder by Thomas Taylor: with Occasional Annotations on the Nine Dialogues Translated by Sydenham, and Copious Notes, by the Latter Translator; in which is Given the Substance of nearly all the Existing Greek Ms. Commentaries on the Philosophy of Plato, and a Considerable Portion of such as are already Published. In Five Volumes, volume I, London: Printed for Thomas Taylor, by R. Wilks, Chancery-Lane; and sold by E. Jeffery, and R. E. Evans, Pall-Mall, page 293, footnote 2:

The promotion of Pan is matched by the new attention Athens paid to Boreas, god of the north wind, after he destroyed the Persian fleet off Artemision (Herodotus, 7.189) A tradition (λέγεται δε λόγος) held that the Athenians prayed to the god before the battle to assist them, the equivalent of the prebattle encounter between Pan and Pheidippides. As in the complaint of Pan, the god Boreas was remembered as assisting the Greeks before, in this case by having sent a storm off Mount Athos during the expedition under Mardonios (6.44.2).

1995, Sarah P. Morris, Daidalos and the Origins of Greek Art, Princeton University Press, →ISBN, page 322:

One very windy day, the god Boreas became a citizen of the town of Thurii, the new Sybaris in Magna Graecia. In more concrete terms, in 397 b.c. Dionysius of Syracuse, at war with the Carthaginians, launched an expedition of three hundred ships crammed with armed men – hoplites, men of bronze – against Thurii. The North Wind was blowing against them, and Boreas wrecked the ship. It was a disaster for Dionysius, but the citizens of Thurii, saved by the god Boreas, passed a decree granting citizenship to the wind.

2000, Giulia Sissa with Marcel Detienne, “When the Olympians Donned the Citizen's Costume”, in Janet Lloyd, transl., The Daily Life of the Greek Gods, Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, →ISBN, page 137:

(Greek mythology) The god of the North Wind.


airish

en-adj

airish (comparative more airish, superlative most airish)

more airish (comparative)
most airish (superlative)

Hit's right airish out today.

(Appalachia, of the weather) Cool, breezy.


souther

en-verb

souther (third-person singular simple present southers, present participle southering, simple past and past participle southered)

southers (present singular third-person)
southering (participle present)
southered (participle past)
southered (past)

Reuben's a gude lad and a kind—I have aye allowed that ; but as to his not allowing enquiry anent the scandal of Margery Kittlesides and Rory MacRand, under pretence that they have southered sin wi' marriage, it's clear again the Christian discipline o' the kirk.

1818, Sir Walter Scott, The Heart of Midlothian:

He works brass and copper, an' a' sic like mettles, Walds broken brass pans, southers auld copper kettles;

1843, James Ballantine, The Gaberlunzie's Wallet, page 129:

The laddies ran to him to redd ilka quarrel, An' he southered a' up wi' a snap or a farl ; While vice that had daured to stain virtue's pure laurel, Shrunk cowed frae the glance o' the stalwart auld carl :

1878, John Donald Carrick, Alexander Rodger, David Robertson, Whistle-Binkie: Or, The Piper of the Party:

At the time all was war and rebellion with the tollman-- assault and battery, damages, broken panes, and what not ; but with skilful management, and a few words in the private ear of Mr Rory Sneckdrawer, the penny-writer, we got matters southered up when we were in our sober senses.

1895, David Macbeth Moir, The Life of Mansie Wauch: Tailor in Dalkeith, page 169:

(Scotland, dialect) To fix; remedy; put to rights.


Zephyrus

From Middle English Zeferus, Zepherus, Zephirus, Zephyrus, from Latin zephyrus, from Ancient Greek Ζέφυρος (Zéphuros). Not related to Latin zephirum (“zero”). Doublet of zefir, zéphire, Zephyr, and zephyr.

doublet

(Greek mythology) The Ancient Greek god of the west wind, supposed to be the gentlest of the winds and the messenger of spring. His parents are Eos/Aurora and Astraeus, and his brothers are Boreas, Notus and Eurus, (the Anemoi), and the Astra Planeta. His wife is Chloris and their son is Karpos. His Roman counterpart is Favonius.


muzzler

(nautical) A wind from the intended direction of the vessel.


limbat

From French limbat, a rebracketing of l’imbat, from Ottoman Turkish امبات (imbat, “sea breeze”). Doublet of imbat.

der

The heats increase as the summer advances, and would be altogether intolerable, if a cooling wind called limbat did not arise.

1797, Robert Heron, A Collection of Late Voyages and Travels:

There are various other periodical winds: of these, however, that generally known by the name of limbat, which is common in the island of Cyprus, shall only be mentioned here.

1807, Andrew Mackay, The Complete Navigator:

The intensity of the summer heat is, however, modified after a time by a cooling wind which [Giovanni] Mariti calls limbat. […] This limbat wind is said to be the cause of those fevers which attack the inhabitants, to which Europeans are even more subject.

1878, Frederic Henry Fisher, Cyprus, Our New Colony and What We Know About It, pages 59–60:

(obsolete) A periodic cooling wind in Cyprus, blowing from the northwest.


slatch

(nautical) The loose part of a rope; slack.


pampero

All these miseries, however, are not without their remedy; when the sufferings of the natives are at their climax, the mercury will give the sure indication of a coming pampero, as the south-wester is called […]

1838, Woodbine Parish, Buenos Ayres, and the provinces of the Rio de La Plata, page 49:

A violent wind from the west or southwest, which sweeps over the pampas of South America and the adjacent seas, often doing great damage.


south wind

From Old English suþwind, corresponding to south + wind.

The watry Southwinde, from the seabord coste / Upblowing, doth disperse the vapour lo'ste, / And poures it selfe forth in a stormy showre [...].

1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

Snow-melting south winds and rain below 2,400m have marred much of the fantastic early-season base and created off-piste avalanche risk.

2010 December 10, Stephen Lee, The Guardian:


Solano

The little-known extinct language spoken by the Solano.


Caecias

Now from the North / Of Norumbega, and the Samoed shoar / Bursting thir brazen Dungeon, armd with ice / And snow and haile and stormie gust and flaw, / Boreas and Caecias and Argestes loud / And Thrascias rend the Woods and Seas upturn; / With adverse blast up-turns them from the South / Notus and Afer black with thundrous Clouds / From Serraliona […]

1667, John Milton, “Book X”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:


sharqi

From Arabic شَرْقِيّ (šarqiyy, “eastern”).

Then suddenly, with the least warning, the sky yellows and the Chergui blows in from the Sahara, stinging the eyes and choking with its sandy, sticky breath.

1977, Alistair Horne, A Savage War of Peace, New York: Review Books, published 2006, page 47:

The Ghibli is a hot wind in Libya, usually blowing from the Sahara; this wind in Morocco is called the Chergui.

2005, Encyclopedia of World Climatology, page 749:

The sharqi is a wind from the south and southeast that blows in early summer and early winter.

2010, April Fast, Iraq: The Land, third edition, p. 15

The harmattan, which is also called sharqi in Morocco, is a hot wind that blows out of the interior of the Sahara.

A hot desert wind in an Arabic country, especially in North Africa.


superhurricane

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-superhurricane.wav


polar vortex

en-noun

polar vortex (plural polar vortexes or polar vortices)

polar vortexes (plural)
polar vortices (plural)

Experts pointed to several factors. One culprit: the polar vortex, a giant mass of cold air normally contained above the North Pole by strong bands of circulating winds. In recent weeks, the vortex has broken apart, with one block of cold air escaping into Canada and the United States, and another into Europe.

2019 January 22, Richard A. Oppel Jr, “Had Enough of Snow? Try Frost Quakes, Waterspouts and Bitter Cold”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

A large-scale cyclone located in the middle and upper troposphere and stratosphere that surround the polar highs and lay in the wake of the polar front.


Favonius

(Roman mythology) The god of the west wind. He is also the husband of Flora and the father of Karpos. He is the Roman counterpart of Zephyrus.


slant of wind

A local variation of the wind from its general direction; a transitory breeze.


in the wind's eye

(nautical) Directly toward the point from which the wind blows.


Witch of November

The strong winds that frequently blow across the Great Lakes in autumn, caused by intense low atmospheric pressure.


suther

(regional, archaic) The sighing of the wind


nor'wester

For nor'west diurnal periods of similar extraterrestrial irradiance (EI), the nor'wester's potential influence tends to increase with the reduction of Qᵣ* by cloudiness.

1974 August, P.J. Lamb, “Nor'wester's potential föhn influence on Canterbury Plains' (New Zealand) surface heat exchanges”, in New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research, volume 17, number 3:

However, I am assured that I have not yet seen either a “howling nor'-wester,” nor its exact antithesis, “ a sutherly buster.”

2011, Mary Anne Barker, Station Life in New Zealand, →ISBN, page 49:

The pattern is familiar: A nor'wester shuttles in a cold front from the Canadian plains and thoughts of spring are pirated off to sea.

2011, Christopher White, Skipjack: The Story of America's Last Sailing Oysterman, →ISBN, page 1:

A place glimpsed as square fragments from the windows of a Saab 340 as it bucked in on a pesky nor'wester.

2015, Fiona Farrell, The Villa at the Edge of the Empire, →ISBN, page 52:


wind force

wind force (countable and uncountable, plural wind forces)

(meteorology) the strength of the wind. The Beaufort scale was devised to classify wind forces of various strengths.


blue norther

A strong wind from the north that sweeps away clouds, leaving a clear blue sky.


wind stream

[T]he lantern flame [...] waved and smoked in the currents of air that leaked into the dome from the fierce wind-stream without.

1882, Thomas Hardy, chapter I, in Two on a Tower. A Romance. [...] In Three Volumes, volume II, London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington, […], →OCLC, page 9:

… up where the raindrops are being formed … the little particles of water move along with the wind stream …

1917, Kenneth Ward, chapter 8, in The Boy Volunteers with the French Airmen, New York: American Authors Publishing

He feels like a leaf or a seed in the grip of a headlong force, a winged seed drawn up into the highest windstream, carried dizzily above the oceans.

1994, J. M. Coetzee, chapter 6, in The Master of Petersburg, London: Secker & Warburg, page 57:


breakwind

He bent and disappeared out of the sheltering circle of the fir-fronds, returning in a moment with an armful of boughs. He went back, foraging, and she heard him snapping off others. Presently he was beside her again, and began to construct the break-wind, interweaving from the ground up to the fir-fronds a wall of boughs. Abruptly the wind ceased to blow upon Clair's back.

1932, Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Three Go Back:

The rows of breakwind trees should be planted at right angles to the prevailing wind, and there should be at least thirty feet between the first row of fruit trees and the breakwind trees.

1971, Duncan Brown, Better Fruit Growing for Australian Gardeners, page 15:


windstrength

windstrength (countable and uncountable, plural windstrengths)

In principle, the windiness map permits estimating the windstrength of a place, where the windiness value is W., by multiplying that by the measured wind at Observatory Hill.

1978, E. T. White, Penelope Hetherington, Clean Air, the Continuing Challenge, page 753:

Therefore, fluctuations in the windstrength may be a possible cause for changes in the Ti/Al record as proposed by Shimmield & Mowbray (1991).

1991, Maria Bianca Cita, Proceedings of the International Conference, Geology of the Oceans:

Each class is different, but here are a few general pointers to tweaking for various windstrengths.

2007, John Caig, Tim Davison, Racing: A Beginner's Guide:

In assessing the windstrength before an operation I could not stop myself hoping that it would be too strong; we should win the war of course, but the end was nowhere in sight and I did so wish it was like a term at school when one at least knew how long one had to stick it out.

2008, Captain Peter Dickens, Night Action: MTB Flotilla at War, page 192:

The strength of the wind; the amount of force with which the wind blows.


hyperhurricane

One of the proposed consequences of an increase in sea surface temperature is the existence of hyperhurricanes: that there would be, should be, many more very intense hurricanes, much more intense than we have ever seen in the past.

1988, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Environment and Public Works. Subcommittee on Hazardous Wastes and Toxic Substances, The Oxford Handbook of Medieval Philosophy, U.S. Government Printing Office Press, page 40:

And if you thought the ice was hostile, picture this. With searing temperatures and soaring levels of CO2 would come torrents of acidic rain and howling hyperhurricanes.

1999, New Scientist,Volume 164, Issues 2206-2214, IPC Magazines, page 31:

Combine that with the arrival of a hyperhurricane period, says Gray, and "it is inevitable that we are going to see, in the years ahead, hurricane damage like we've never seen before."

1999 September 26, Sharon Begley, “‘Floyd's Watery Wrath”, in www.newsweek.com, archived from the original on 2015-06-20:


go with the wind

en-verb

go with the wind (third-person singular simple present goes with the wind, present participle going with the wind, simple past went with the wind, past participle gone with the wind)

goes with the wind (present singular third-person)
going with the wind (participle present)
went with the wind (past)
gone with the wind (participle past)

(idiomatic) To be carried away by the wind.


wake loss

The space behind a wind turbine where there the wind power decreases after passing through the turbine due to the wind energy conversion to move the turbine blades.


watch circle

A controlled area where a floating wind turbine anchored with mooring lines drifts around.


xwind

I was back taxiing to takeoff position in a xwind yesterday. The xwind was coming from the right when I was in position to take off.

1998 October 29, Mike Regish, “Taxiing in xwind”, in rec.aviation.student (Usenet), retrieved 2022-05-19:

I believe that all xwind landings should end in a wing low slip with the longitudinal axis aligned with the direction of movement.

2003 September 17, Maule Driver, “Cherokees and X-winds”, in rec.aviation.student (Usenet), retrieved 2022-05-19:

I bit the bullet today and went out to the airport to work on my Xwind landings.

2006 February 4, A Lieberman, “Xwind landing experiences today & questions”, in rec.aviation.student (Usenet), retrieved 2022-05-19:


EWW

Ewell West railway station
w:Ewell West railway station

(rail transport) The station code of Ewell West railway station in Ewell, England.


spoon chime

A type of wind chime made with metal spoons.


wind direction

en-noun

wind direction (countable and uncountable, plural wind directions)

The direction from which the wind comes.