showers

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of shower.

   Scattered showers moved across the valley just before sunset.

   The renovated locker room now has a dozen private showers.

   Note

   One spelling gathers several plurals: passing rainfalls, bathroom fixtures, separate acts of bathing, and gift-giving parties that mark a significant event in someone's life, such as a wedding. Each is an ordinary countable noun, so the -s plural is regular throughout: two showers a day, a week of showers, a round of bridal showers. Context alone tells them apart, and the same letters also serve as the verb's he/she/it form.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of shower.

   The volcano showers fine ash over the nearby towns whenever it stirs.

   Each spring she showers her garden beds with fresh compost.

   Note

   This form agrees with a single third-person subject (the volcano showers, she showers), and it carries the verb's whole range, from bathing to lavish giving. When it means spraying, the liquid follows with: she showers the beds with compost. The same pattern serves generous giving, as in showering guests with gifts. Used intransitively, it means falling like rain, as when ash showers down on a town.

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