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Definitions (43)

American Heritage Dictionary (13)

noun Water condensed from atmospheric vapor and falling in drops.
noun A fall of such water; a rainstorm.
noun The descent of such water.

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Century Dictionary (22)

The descent of water in drops through the atmosphere, or the water thus falling. In general, clouds constitute the reservoir from which rain descends, but the fall of rain in very small quantities from a cloudless sky is occasionally observed. The aqueous vapor of the atmosphere, which condenses into cloud, and falls as rain, is derived from the evaporation of water, partly from land, but chiefly from the vast expanse of the ocean. At a given temperature, only a certain amount of aqueous vapor can be contained in a given volume, and when this amount is present the air is said to be saturated. If the air is then cooled below this temperature, a part of the vapor will be condensed into small drops, which, when suspended in the atmosphere, coustitute clonds. Under continued cooling and condensation, the number and size of the drops increase until they begin to descend by their own weight. The largest of these, falling fastest, unite with smaller ones that they overtake, and thus drops of rain are formed whose size depends on the thickness and density of the cloud and on the distribution of electrical stress therein. Sometimes the rate of condensation is so great that the water appears to fall in sheets rather than in drops, and then the storm is popularly called a cloud-burst. It is now generally held that dynamic cooling (that is, the cooling of air by expansion, when raised in altitude, and thereby brought under diminished pressure), if not the sole cause of rain, is the only cause of any importance, and that other causes popularly appealed to—such as the intermingling of warm and cold air, contact with cold mountain-slopes, etc.—are either inoperative or relatively insignificant. The requisite ascent of air may be occasioned either by convection currents, a cyclonic circulation, or the upward deflection of horizontal currents by hills or mountains; and rain may be classified as convectivc, cyclonic, or orographic, according as the first, second, or third of these methods is brought into operation to produce it. The productiveness of the soil and the maintenance of life in most parts of the earth depend largely upon an adequate fall of rain. In some regions it is more or less evenly distributed throughout the year, in others it is confined to a part of the year (the rainy season), and in others still it is entirely absent, or too slight for need, according to variation of local atmospheric conditions. In a ship's log-book abbreviated r. A muchel wind alith mid a lutel rein. Ancren Riwle, p. 246. Also a man that was born in thys yle told vs that they had no Rayne by the space of x months; they sow ther whete with owt Rayne. Torkington, Diarie of Eng. Travell p. 61.
Figuratively— A fall of any substance through the atmosphere in the manner of rain, as of blossoms or of the pyrotechnic stars from rockets and other fireworks. Blood-rain is a fall of fragments of red algæ or the like, raised in large quantities by the wind and afterward precipitated. Sulphur-rain or yellow rain is a similar precipitation of the pollen of fir-trees, etc.
A shower, downpour, or abundant outpouring of anything. Whilst Wealth it self doth roll In to her bosom in a golden Rain. J. Beaumont, Psyche, i. 38.

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Hanging in the rain was a giant and very vivid three-dimen - sional image of her father looking startled about something. — Mostly Harmless
By then the rain was as heavy as it was going to get. — Echo Burning
But the rain was also a mere trifle to Mrs Clay; she would hardly allow it even to drop at all, and her boots were so thick! much thicker than Miss Anne's; and, in short, her civility rendered her quite as anxious to be left to walk with Mr Elliot as Anne could be, and it was discussed between them with a generosity so polite and so determined, that the others were obliged to settle it for them; Miss Elliot maintaining that Mrs Clay had a little cold already, and Mr Elliot deciding on appeal, that his cousin Anne's boots were rather the thickest. — Persuasion
"This thing is checking out our territory one bite at a time. — The Legacy of Heorot
"Hell, walkin" in the rain is a damnsight cozier than pokin" around in here. — The Otherworld

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storm · snow · shower · wind · cloud · dust · heat · sun · darkness · breeze · spray · flood

Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (4)

American Heritage Dictionary (1)

Middle English, from Old English regn, rēn.

Century Dictionary (3)

Early modern English rayne, from Middle English rein, reyn, reyne, reane, reʒn, rien, ren, ran, from Anglo-Saxon regn (often contr. rēn) = Old Saxon regan, regin = OFries. rein = Dutch regen = Middle Low German regen = Old High German regan, Middle High German regen, German regen = Icelandic Swedish Danish regn = Goth, rign, rain; cf. Latin rigare, moisten (see irrigation), Greek βρέχειν, wet (see embrocation).
from Middle English raynen, reinen, reynen, reʒnen, rinen, rynen (preterit rainde, reinede, rinde; sometimes strong, ron, roon), from AS, rignan, rarely regnan, usually contracted rīnan, ry¯nan (preterit rīnde; rarely strong, rān), = Dutch regenen = Middle Low German regenen = Old High German reganōn, regonōn, Middle High German regenen, German regnen = Icelandic regna, rigna = Swedish regna = Danish regne = Gothic (Moesogothic) rignjan, rain; from the noun: see rain, n.
Origin obscure.

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