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desert devil

American  
[dez-ert dev-uhl] / ˈdɛz ərt ˌdɛv əl /

noun

Meteorology.

  1. a dust whirl that occurs in a desert.

    I got some great shots of a blooming cactus before spotting this desert devil on what seemed to be a windless day.

Etymology

Origin of desert devil

First recorded in 1910–15

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.