land breeze

American  

noun

1. a coastal breeze blowing at night from land to sea, caused by the difference in the rate of cooling of their respective surfaces.

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land breeze Cultural  

1. The breeze that blows from the land toward the sea after sunset. The land cools more quickly than the ocean, cooling the air above it. The warmer air above the water continues to rise, and cooler air from over the land replaces it, creating a breeze. (Compare sea breeze.)

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Etymology

Origin of land breeze

First recorded in 1660–70

Compare meaning

How does land-breeze compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• land breeze vs. sea breeze

Example Sentences

It was as if a dry land breeze were blowing over Debussy's sea that day.

From Time Magazine Archive

She gave me stores, victuals and wine, a cloak divinely woven, and made a warm land breeze come up astern.

From "The Odyssey" by Homer

He smelled the tar and oakum of the deck as he slept and he smelled the smell of Africa that the land breeze brought at morning.

From "The Old Man and The Sea" by Ernest Hemingway

Usually when he smelled the land breeze he woke up and dressed to go and wake the boy.

From "The Old Man and The Sea" by Ernest Hemingway

There is an island washed by the open sea lying off the Nile mouth—seamen call it Pharos— distant a day’s sail in a clean hull with a brisk land breeze behind.

From "Circumference" by Nicholas Nicastro