spoondrift
Definitions
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- noun (Nautical) A showery sprinkling of sea-water or fine spray swept from the tops of the waves by the violence of the wind in a tempest, and driven along before it, covering the surface of the sea; scud.
Examples
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As the gale increased, the tops of the waves were shorn off by the fierce blasts, clouding the whole atmosphere with frozen spray, or what the sailors call 'spoondrift,' rendering it impossible to see any object a few rods distant.
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A curtain of spoondrift hung above that awful reef and almost shut from the view of those ashore the open sea and what swam on it.
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The sun shone bright in the clear sky above and the wind howled as it lashed the combing sea, driving the spoondrift like mist through the air and covering the vast ocean in a sea of foam -- a scene grand and magnificent to behold!
Note
An obsolete meaning of 'spoon' is 'to run before the wind.'
