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drizzle

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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Etymology

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Perhaps a back-formation from dryseling, a dissimilated variant of Middle English drysning (“a falling of dew”), from Northumbrian Old English drysnan (“to extinguish”), related to Old English drēosan (“to fall, to decline”), making it cognate to modern English droze and drowse. Compare also dialectal Swedish drösla.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈdɹɪzəl/, [ˈdɹɪzl̩]
    • Audio (US):(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɪzəl
  • Hyphenation: driz‧zle

Verb

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drizzle (third-person singular simple present drizzles, present participle drizzling, simple past and past participle drizzled)

  1. (impersonal) To rain lightly.
    Synonyms: sprinkle, drip, mizzle (dialectal), mistle (uncommon)
    We had planned a picnic for Joe's birthday, but it ended up drizzling all day.
  2. (ambitransitive) To shed slowly in minute drops or particles.
  3. (cooking, transitive) To pour slowly and evenly, especially oil or honey in cooking.
    Synonym: dribble
    The recipe says to toss the salad and then drizzle olive oil on it.
  4. (cooking, transitive) To cover by pouring in this manner.
    The recipe says to toss the salad and then drizzle it in olive oil.
  5. (slang) To urinate.
    She'll be right back, had to drizzle before we leave.
  6. (dated) To carry out parfilage, the process of unravelling.
    • 1908 January–June, James Knowles, “Extracts from the Journal of Lady Mary Coke”, in The Nineteenth Century And After, volume 63, New York, N.Y.; London: Leonard Scott Publication Co.; Spottiswoode & Co. Ltd., Printers, →OCLC, page 433:
      She found that all those ladies who did not play at cards occupied their fingers with parfilage.[...] Here, the work was called drizzling. Ladies begged their friends to give them pieces of the gold lace used on uniforms and the gold tassels of sword-belts, they picked out the metal threads, and by selling these they realised considerable sums. Prince Leopold himself drizzled continually[...]

Translations

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Noun

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drizzle (countable and uncountable, plural drizzles)

  1. Light rain.
    • 2023 November 29, Paul Clifton, “West is best in the Highlands”, in RAIL, number 997, page 39:
      Up here, it's a 'dreich' day with steady drizzle. Deep drainage channels either side of the track are already more like streams: Rannoch Moor is a wet place.
  2. (physics, weather) Very small, numerous, and uniformly dispersed water drops, mist, or sprinkle. Unlike fog droplets, drizzle falls to the ground.
    No longer pouring, the rain outside slowed down to a faint drizzle.
  3. (slang) Water.
    Stop drinking all of my drizzle!
  4. Something that is drizzled.
    • 1999 November 21, Catherine Jones, “Restaurants: Palate and Palette”, in The New York Times‎[1], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 27 May 2015:
      The warm apple tart, made to order, had a definitively crisp shell. Its filling of apples was tender and sweet, and the drizzle of caramel rum sauce added sophistication.
    • 2009 May 29, Patricia Brooks, “A Retro Rebirth at a Storied Location”, in The New York Times‎[2], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 18 September 2019:
      Thick shavings of Parmesan were plentiful, but the drizzle of “white truffle oil” promised on the menu had been forgotten.
    • 2013 January 23, Felicity Cloake, “How to cook the perfect lemon drizzle cake”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian‎[3], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 10 September 2013:
      Drizzle is not normally good news. Not when it's falling from the sky, not when it's replacing a decent helping of sauce, and especially not when it's found on a menu in close proximity to the words "balsamic vinegar". Deliciously sticky, sweet and sour lemon drizzle cake is the one, and very honourable, exception. […] Rhodes and Holt wisely avoid any icing, relying on the power of the drizzle: and I'm inclined to agree – with the crunchy, granulated sugar syrups used by Holt and George, anything further would seem to be over-egging the cake.
  5. (baking) A cake onto which icing, honey or syrup has been drizzled in an artistic manner.
    • 2009, Jules Stanbridge, Sugar and Spice:
      The rest of the day is spent trying to concentrate on ingredient labels, ordering supplies, baking some fairy cakes for a hen party and two lemon drizzles, one for a new baby and one for an old dear's birthday.

Translations

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Derived terms

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Anagrams

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