waterspout
Also called rain·spout [reyn-spout] /ˈreɪnˌspaʊt/ . a pipe running down the side of a building to carry away water from the gutter of the roof: Don’t expect the waterspouts to function effectively if the gutters are clogged with leaves and other debris.
a spout, duct, or the like, from which water is discharged: The extendable waterspout can be attached to a bucket, making a better watering can than any that we’ve tried.
Meteorology.Also called fair-weath·er wa·ter·spout [fair-weth-er] /ˈfɛərˌwɛð ər/ . a funnel-shaped column laden with mist and spray that develops on the surface of a body of water and climbs upward to the cloud that has spawned it: usually formed during conditions of light winds, fair-weather waterspouts have little lateral movement and are not normally accompanied by thunderstorms.
Meteorology.Also called tor·na·dic wa·ter·spout [tawr-nad-ik] /tɔrˈnæd ɪk/ . a tornado that forms in a downward direction over a body of water, typically during a severe thunderstorm and often accompanied by high winds, dangerous water turbulence, and large hail: although tornadic waterspouts tend to dissipate rapidly upon landfall, they may occasionally move inland.
Origin of waterspout
1Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use waterspout in a sentence
He immediately threw himself into an investigation of the nature of waterspouts.
Over the next few years, several philosophers became intrigued about the nature of waterspouts.
Nor did they accept that waterspouts rose up rather than descended.
The nearest approach to it is that of waterspouts, frequently seen by persons navigating the Atlantic toward either of the Indies.
Novum Organum | Francis BaconFranklin and waterspouts, whirlwinds and northeast storms, 415.
Benjamin Franklin; Self-Revealed, Volume I (of 2) | Wiliam Cabell Bruce
The imagination rises to it as to whirlwinds and the noise of waterspouts.
Life's Minor Collisions | Frances WarnerThe waterspouts were overcharged, and the rain came tearing down from the house-tops as if they had been mountain-tops.
Reprinted Pieces | Charles DickensAs the dank-smelling waterspouts rise and break, she judges where the next grove of them will sprout.
Sea Warfare | Rudyard Kipling
British Dictionary definitions for waterspout
/ (ˈwɔːtəˌspaʊt) /
meteorol
a tornado occurring over water that forms a column of water and mist extending between the surface and the clouds above
a sudden downpour of heavy rain
a pipe or channel through which water is discharged, esp one used for drainage from the gutters of a roof
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
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