simoom
English
Etymology
From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Arabic سَمُوم (samūm, “hot wind”), from سَمَّ (samma, “to poison”).
Pronunciation
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 290: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "RP" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. enPR: sĭmo͞omʹ; IPA(key): /sɪˈmuːm/
Noun
simoom (plural simooms)
- A hot, dry, suffocating, dust-laden wind of the desert, particularity of Arabia, Syria, and neighboring countries, generated by the extreme heat of the parched deserts or sandy plains.
- 1892, James Yoxall, chapter 5, in The Lonely Pyramid:
- The desert storm was riding in its strength; the travellers lay beneath the mastery of the fell simoom. Whirling wreaths and columns of burning wind, rushed around and over them.
- 1916, James Joyce, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (Macmillan Press Ltd, paperback, p.101)
- Stephen's heart had withered up like a flower of the desert that feels the simoom coming from afar.
Translations
hot, dry wind
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