weather
UK /ˈwɛðə/ · US /ˈwɛðɚ/ noun, adjective, verb
Forms weathers weathering weathered
- noun The short-term state of the atmosphere at a specific time and place, including the temperature, relative humidity, cloud cover, precipitation, wind, etc. “What's the weather like today?”
- noun Unpleasant or destructive atmospheric conditions, and their effects. “Wooden garden furniture must be well oiled as it is continuously exposed to weather.”
- noun (nautical) The direction from which the wind is blowing; used attributively to indicate the windward side.
- noun (countable, figuratively) A situation.
- noun (obsolete) A storm; a tempest.
- noun A light shower of rain.
- adjective (sailing, geology) Facing towards the flow of a fluid, usually air.
- verb To expose to the weather, or show the effects of such exposure, or to withstand such effects.
- verb (by extension) To sustain the trying effect of; to bear up against and overcome; to endure; to resist.
- verb To break down, of rocks and other materials, under the effects of exposure to rain, sunlight, temperature, and air.
- verb To cause (rocks) to break down by crushing, grinding, and/or dissolving with acids.
- verb (nautical) To pass to windward in a vessel, especially to beat 'round. “to weather a cape to weather another ship”
- verb (nautical) To endure or survive an event or action without undue damage. “Joshua weathered a collision with a freighter near South Africa.”
- verb (falconry) To place (a hawk) unhooded in the open air.
- verb To rain; to storm.
Synonyms
weatherboard state of the atmosphere windward weather condition conditions atmospheric condition endure brave brave out upwind
Antonyms
Etymology
From Middle English weder, wedir, from Old English weder, from Proto-West Germanic *wedr, from Proto-Germanic *wedrą, from Proto-Indo-European *wedʰrom (=*we-dʰrom), from *h₂weh₁- (“to blow”).
Cognate with Scots wather (“weather”), Saterland Frisian Weeder (“weather”), Cimbrian bèttar (“weather”), Dutch weder, weer (“weather”), German Wetter (“weather”), Low German Weder (“weather”), Luxembourgish Wieder (“weather”), Yiddish וועטער (veter, “weather”), Danish vejr (“weather”), Faroese, Icelandic veður (“weather”), Norwegian Bokmål vær (“weather”), Norwegian Nynorsk veder, vêr (“weather”), Swedish väder (“weather”); also more distantly related to Russian вёдро (vjódro, “fair weather”) and perhaps Albanian vrëndë (“light rain”).
Other cognates include Sanskrit निर्वाण (nirvāṇa, “blown or put out, extinguished”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun The state of the air or atmosphere with respect to heat or cold, wetness or dryness, calm or storm, clearness or cloudiness, or any other meteorological phenomena; meteorological condition of the atmosphere; as, warm weather; cold weather; wet weather; dry weather, etc. Not amiss to cool a man's stomach this hot weather. Shak.
- noun Vicissitude of season; meteorological change; alternation of the state of the air. Bacon.
- verb To expose to the air; to air; to season by exposure to air. [An eagle] soaring through his wide empire of the air To weather his broad sails. Spenser.
- verb Hence, to sustain the trying effect of; to bear up against and overcome; to sustain; to endure; to resist; as, to weather the storm.
Etymology [OE. weder, AS. weder; akin to OS. wedar, OFries. weder, D. weder, weêr, G. wetter, OHG. wetar, Icel. veedhr, Dan. veir, Sw. väder wind, air, weather, and perhaps to OSlav. vedro fair weather; or perhaps to Lith. vetra storm, Russ. vieter', vietr', wind, and E. wind. Cf. Wither.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “weather”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details