weather

Less common meanings

4. 4
   nounfigurativelycountable

   A situation or set of circumstances, especially one regarded as favorable or difficult.

   Investors brace for choppy weather whenever interest rates shift.

   The startup sailed into fair weather once funding came through.

   UsageUsually with a real-weather adjective: choppy, stormy or fair weather.

   Similarconditions, circumstances

5. 5
   side facing windadjective

   Of a side, edge, or surface: facing toward the direction from which the wind or current flows.

   When the wind picked up, the crew leaned out over the weather side to keep the boat from tipping.

   Wind and rain had scoured the weather face of the ridge down to bare rock.

   Similarwindward

   Oppositeleeward, lee

   Note

   On a boat or a hillside, this is the side that takes the wind. Its counterpart is leeward, the side sheltered from the flow. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • The weather side faces the incoming wind, including in sailing and geology. en.wiktionary.org
   • Leeward is the opposite direction, away from the wind. marine.weather.gov
6. 6
   wind's sourcenouncountable or uncountable

   The direction from which the wind blows, and by extension the windward side of a vessel or object.

   The schooner gained the weather gauge and closed in on her rival.

   Sailors kept a sharp eye to weather as the front approached.

   Similarwindward

   Oppositelee

   Note

   A sailor's bearing rather than a forecast: the weather is where the wind comes from. Placed before a noun, it marks the windward position. The weather gauge, the windward station, was long prized in sail combat for the tactical advantage it gave. The same idea turned into a verb gives passing to windward. Source

   Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

   • The weather gauge was the windward position and provided a valued tactical advantage in sailing warfare. en.wikipedia.org
7. 7
   sail pastverbtransitive

   To sail to windward of an obstacle or point, passing it on the side from which the wind blows.

   Tacking sharply, the sloop weathered the reef with little room to spare.

   A skilled captain could weather the point even in a stiff breeze.

   Note

   A maneuver, not a condition: to weather a cape or another ship is to get past it on the windward side. Against the wind, that usually means beating round in tacks, and failing risks being driven onto the lee shore. The verb takes the obstacle as its object and is the working form of the noun for wind direction. Source

   Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

   • To weather a cape or ship means to pass to windward of it. gutenberg.org
   • Progress against the wind involves beating on successive tacks. gutenberg.org
   • Failure to keep clear of a lee shore risks being driven aground. en.wikipedia.org
   • The verb takes the obstacle as its object and corresponds to the nautical noun referring to wind direction. en.wiktionary.org
8. 8
   nounobsoletecountable or uncountable

   A storm or tempest; a spell of violent atmospheric upheaval.

   What gusts of weather from that gathering cloud / My thoughts presage!

   1697, Virgil, The Works of Virgil

   Note

   An obsolete use in which the word meant the storm itself, not conditions in general. Dryden's Virgil of 1697 still has "gusts of weather from that gathering cloud," where weather is the tempest about to break. The old noun once ranged from violent storm to gentle shower. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

   • Weather historically meant a storm or tempest. en.wiktionary.org
   • Dryden's English translation of Virgil was first published in 1697. openbook.lib.utah.edu
   • The quoted passage occurs in Dryden's translation, describing an impending tempest; Palinurus speaks it in Aeneis, Book V. en.wikisource.org
   • The noun's meanings included both a storm and a light shower. en.wiktionary.org
9. 9
   nounobsoletecountable or uncountable

   A light shower or brief fall of rain.

   Note

   A meaning that has dropped out of use: the word could once name a passing sprinkle as readily as a full-blown tempest, so it covered both ends of the scale. In older writing, an article (a weather) marks a single passing event, shower or storm, rather than the general state of the sky.

10. 10
    verbrare

    Of the sky or atmosphere, to bring on rain or stormy conditions.
11. 11
    verb

    To set a hawk outdoors unhooded in the open air, typically on a perch or block.