simoom
Britishnoun
Etymology
Origin of simoom
from Arabic samūm poisonous, from sam poison, from Aramaic sammā poison
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
If you happen to be in Africa and stuck in a “hot, dry, suffocating sand-wind” which sweeps across the deserts at intervals during the spring, you should know that you are in a simoom.
From Time ● Mar. 20, 2014
It was late in the afternoon when we reached the spot again, and a wind which threatened simoom had covered the heart-shaped footmarks made by our own and other camels, as with a tidal wave.
From Lord John in New York by A. M. (Alice Muriel) Williamson
I suppose the simoom we had there in the summer was a specimen of it.
From Life at Puget Sound: With Sketches of Travel in Washington Territory, British Columbia, Oregon and California by Caroline C. Leighton
But I'd as lief encounter a West India hurricane or a simoom.
From Continental Monthly, Vol. III, No IV, April 1863 Devoted to Literature and National Policy by Various
It was in a gale of wind and a simoom of dust, but I greatly enjoyed it.
From The Letters of Charles Dickens Vol. 2, 1857-1870 by Mamie Dickens
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