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trade wind

[wind]
noun
  1. Also trade winds. Also called trades. any of the nearly constant easterly winds that dominate most of the tropics and subtropics throughout the world, blowing mainly from the northeast in the Northern Hemisphere, and from the southeast in the Southern Hemisphere.
  2. any wind that blows in one regular course, or continually in the same direction.
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Origin of trade wind

First recorded in 1625–35
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for trade wind

Historical Examples

  • So in this trade-wind weather I see a great deal of Miss West.

    The Mutiny of the Elsinore

    Jack London

  • I say, father, can you tell Harry and me all about this trade-wind, which we have got hold of it seems?

  • When a trade-wind is turned out of its course, it is regarded as a monsoon.

  • We sleep on the high ground, and the trade-wind keeps us well.

  • In the heart of the trade-wind belts at sea the sky is of a deeper blue.

British Dictionary definitions for trade wind

trade wind

noun
  1. a wind blowing obliquely towards the equator either from the northeast in the N hemisphere or the southeast in the S hemisphere, approximately between latitudes 30° N and S, forming part of the planetary wind system
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Word Origin

C17: from to blow trade to blow steadily in one direction, from trade in the obsolete sense: a track
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012