shower

Definition

A brief fall of precipitation (spell of rain, or a similar fall of snow, sleet, or cascade); burst of hefty precipitation.

Etymology

From Middle English schour (“shower”), from Old English sċūr (“shower”), from Proto-West Germanic *skūru (“shower”), from Proto-Germanic *skūrō (“storm, short shower”), probably from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ḱēwer- (“north, north wind, cold wind, rain shower”). Cognates Cognate with Dutch schoer (“downpour, heavy rainshower”), German Schauer (“shower”), Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish skur (“shower”), Faroese skúrur (“shower”), Icelandic skúr (“shower”), Norn skur (“squall”), Gothic 𐍃𐌺𐌿𐍂𐌰 (skūra, “storm”), Italian coro (“northwestern wind”), Spanish cauro (“northwestern wind”), Belarusian се́вер (sjévjer), сі́вер (sívjer), Bulgarian and Russian се́вер (séver, “north”), Czech and Slovak sever (“north”), Macedonian север (sever, “north”), Serbo-Croatian sȅvēr, sjȅvēr (“north”), Slovene sẹ́ver (“north”), Ukrainian сі́вер (síver, “cold, cold, bitter wind”).

Example Sentences

• "Today there will be frequent showers and some sunny spells."
• "They are wet with the showres of the mountaines, and imbrace the rocke for want of a shelter."
• "Occasionally, the sun pierces the clouds like a searchlight to illuminate a feature such as a farm, copse or stream, before being overwhelmed by an advancing shower. Wordsworth would have loved it!"