mackerel sky

American  

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.

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mackerel sky British  

noun

1. a sky patterned with cirrocumulus or small altocumulus clouds

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Etymology

Origin of mackerel sky

First recorded in 1660–70

Example Sentences

The lilies had died back to the ground; the bark of the crepe myrtles had all peeled away; there was a mackerel sky.

From "The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate" by Jacqueline Kelly

But now they were higher and smaller, settling at last into a mackerel sky like a beach at low tide.

From "Watership Down: A Novel" by Richard Adams

"Mackerel sky, mackerel sky, not long wet nor not long dry," said a man in a black silk top hat to Tristran and Yvaine.

From "Stardust" by Neil Gaiman

A mackerel sky is a sign of a storm.

From Current Superstitions Collected from the Oral Tradition of English Speaking Folk by Bergen, Fanny D. (Fanny Dickerson)

The sky looks like fish scales, so-called mackerel sky.

From Reading the Weather by Longstreth, Thomas Morris