mackerel sky

noun

1. an extensive group of cirrocumulus or altocumulus clouds, especially when well-marked in their arrangement: so called because of a resemblance to the scales on a mackerel.

mackerel sky

noun

1. a sky patterned with cirrocumulus or small altocumulus clouds

Word History and Origins

Origin of mackerel sky¹

First recorded in 1660–70

Word History and Origins

Origin of mackerel sky¹

from the similarity to the pattern on a mackerel's back

Example Sentences

The old proverb, “Mackerel sky, soon wet or soon dry,” expresses this uncertainty.

From Project Gutenberg

Another form that the cirro stratus may assume is the mackerel sky,—clouds with the light and shade of the scales of a fish.

From Project Gutenberg

I have never met with ten persons who applied even the term “mackerel sky” to the same precise form of cirro-stratus.

From Project Gutenberg

The sky was what is called a mackerel sky--rows and rows of faint down-plumes of cloud, just tinted with the midsummer sunset.

From Project Gutenberg

They were light cumuli, or cirro-cumuli, shifting into a brightly shining mackerel sky.

From Project Gutenberg