virga

[ vur-guh ]

/ ˈvɜr gə /

noun (used with a singular or plural verb) Meteorology.

streaks of water drops or ice particles falling out of a cloud and evaporating before reaching the ground (distinguished from praecipitatio).

Nearby words

vireo, vires, virescence, virescent, virg., virga, virgate, virgil, virgilian, virgin, virgin birth

Origin of virga

1935–40; < Latin: rod, streak

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for virga

In the Exchequer book an abbreviated form is used; but virga appears in i. 216 b.
Domesday Book and Beyond|Frederic William Maitland
In the middle ages the general literary term throughout Europe was coles (or colis) from caulis, a stalk, and virga, a rod.
Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 5 (of 6)|Havelock Ellis
A power less poetical but not less fabulous then the story of the Virga Fatalis that conducted neas to the Shades.
A Guide to the Mount's Bay and the Land's End|John Ayrton Paris
Ego vir videns paupertatem meam in virga indignationis ejus.
The Thoughts of Blaise Pascal|Blaise Pascal

Hence it follows that the quarter of an acre is a rood or yard or virga or virgata of land.
Domesday Book and Beyond|Frederic William Maitland

British Dictionary definitions for virga

virga

/ (ˈvɜːɡə) /

noun

(sometimes functioning as plural) meteorol wisps of rain or snow, seen trailing from clouds, that evaporate before reaching the earth

Word Origin for virga

C20: from Latin: streak

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

Science definitions for virga

virga

[ vûr′gə ]

Light wisps of precipitation streaming from a cloud but evaporating before reaching the ground, especially when the air below is low in humidity.