spindrift
Americannoun
noun
-
spray blown up from the surface of the sea
-
powdery snow blown off a mountain
Etymology
Origin of spindrift
1590–1600; variant of Scots speendrift spoondrift
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.
James Instance, from Falmouth RNLI, said conditions there were getting worse, with high waves and spindrift coming through.
From BBC • Feb. 18, 2022
While the rest of the group heads out for a swim, I excuse myself, hop off the walkway to explore the unpaved crevices, and discover a little secluded cove frothed in spindrift.
From Scientific American • Feb. 12, 2018
The painter Winslow Homer would have been hard put to match the majestic images of spindrift flying from crashing waves in a movie that might facetiously be subtitled “Early ‘Downton Abbey’ by the Sea, Manqué.”
From New York Times • Jan. 16, 2014
The battle to prevent healthy scepticism from metastasising into cancerous solipsism has typified Western philosophy since Thales of Miletus theorised that all things were but cosmic spindrift conjured momentarily from a great and watery flux.
From BBC • Dec. 6, 2013
A 20-knot breeze raked the ridge, blowing a plume of spindrift far over the Kangshung Face, but overhead the sky was an achingly brilliant blue.
From "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer
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.
