Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A strong, hot, sand-laden wind of the Sahara and Arabian deserts: "Stephen's heart had withered up like a flower of the desert that feels the simoom coming from afar” ( James Joyce). Also called samiel.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. An intensely hot dry wind prevalent in the Arabian desert, and on the heated plains of Sind and Kandahar, sudden in its occurrence, moving in a straight, narrow track, and characterized by its suffocating effects. Iu the Arabian desert the simoom generally moves from south or east to north and west, and occupies from five to ten minutes in its passage; it is probably a whirlwind set in motion in the overheated air of the desert. The traveler seeks protection against the gusts of sand and the suffocating, dust-laden air, by covering his bead with a cloth and throwing himself upon the ground; and camels instinctively bury their noses in the sand. The desiccating wind parches the skin, inflames the throat, and creates a raging thirst.
Wiktionary
- n. A hot, dry, suffocating, dust-laden wind of the desert, particularity of Arabia, Syria, and neighboring countries, generated by the extreme heat of the parched deserts or sandy plains.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A hot, dry, suffocating, dust-laden wind, that blows occasionally in Arabia, Syria, and neighboring countries, generated by the extreme heat of the parched deserts or sandy plains.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a violent hot sand-laden wind on the deserts of Arabia and North Africa
Etymologies
- Arabic سموم (samūm, "hot wind"), from سم (sámma, "to poison"). (Wiktionary)
- Arabic samūm, from samma, to poison, from Aramaic sammā, drug, poison; see šmm in Semitic roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The approach of the simoom is a dense black cloud of whirling and seething fine dust.”
“African deserts called the simoom, which fills the mouth and nose and ears and eyes with dust till you are suffocated, for fear that I should get some of his good done to me -- some of its virus mingled with my blood.”
“If I knew for a certainty that a man was coming to my house with the conscious design of doing me good, I should run for my life as from that dry and parching wind of the African deserts called the simoom, which fills the mouth and the nose and the ears and the eyes with dust till you are suffocated, for fear that I should get some of his good done to me, – some of its virus mingled with my blood.”
“If I knew for a certainty that a man was coming to my house with the conscious design of doing me good, I should run for my life, as from that dry and parching wind of the African deserts called the simoom, which fills the mouth and nose and ears and eyes with dust till you are suffocated, for fear that I should get some of his good done to me, -- some of its virus mingled with my blood.”
“If I knew for a certainty that a man was coming to my house with the conscious design of doing me good, I should run for my life, as from that dry and parching wind of the African deserts called the simoom, which fills the mouth and nose and ears and eyes with dust till you are suffocated, for fear that I should get some of his good done to me — some of its virus mingled with my blood.”
“Presently a kind of simoom was observed to rage in the Scholars 'Bunker, out of which emerged the head of the niblick, the ball, and, finally, BULGER himself.”
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 103, November 19, 1892
“He specifies the role of “the steppe winds from the east, opposed [to] the Western in the spirit of a fatalistic resignation to destiny,” and the title of his opening story — “Skushno,” a Russian word for extreme anomie — could well be the name of an enervating wind like the simoom.”
“The simoom brought nothing with it that resembled a cooling breeze, only dust and sand filtering through the shutters and under the doors, and yet more heat, and some days everything we ate, everything we drank, was full of it.”
“But then the sandstorms began, when full days and parts of weeks were lost as the simoom whipped up the desert and deposited great swaths of it on the village.”
“Behind him was darkness; behind him raged drought and the simoom.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘simoom’.
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wind names
yet another list like this.
abroholos, alizé, amihan, habagat, barguzin wind, bayamo, bergwind, bise, bora, brickfielder, brisa, brisote and 93 more...
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250 Extra Spelling Words
Some more words for intermediate and advanced spellers.
cultellarius, barouche, palanquin, badelaire, cavetto, tregetour, tergiversate, rhododendron, rhadamanthine, thyrsus, cappelletti, bradycardia and 238 more...
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Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
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Arabian Nights
scheherazade, sinbad, bazaar, magic carpet, bedouin, leviathan, aladdin, ali baba, open sesame, 40 thieves, baghdad, ceylon and 32 more...
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fredrx's beautiful sounding list
two most beautiful words when put together
womb, philistine, poignant, wombastic, eschelon, macabre, precipitous, panache, misogynist, placebo, cacophony, aplomb and 43 more...
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winds of the world
local wind names
chinook, foehn, gallego, sirocco, harmattan, fremantle doctor, tramontane, mistral, santa ana, diablo, descuernacabras, dust devil and 119 more...
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Carlos' Words
monstropolous, absquatulate
triffid, calque, pinguid, refulgent, monstropolous, Seanchaí, clinquant, Chryselephantine ..., peavey, milium, swage, Burtillon, Burtil... and 263 more...
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ktrey's wordlist
Words that I like.
Many may be lexicographically impotent due to a lack of citations and definition. Hopefully I'll be able to rectify this eventually.velleity, dispositive, bloviate, bibulous, fungible, concupiscence, avuncular, carnaptious, thrawn, hypocoristic, diegesis, lagniappe and 928 more...
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eesome
Includes any intangible conceivable independently of Hom. Sap.
depthless, overspire, unsteady, thitherward, rile, munchable, covet, pastinaceous, mirtle, slonk, tink, inerrarable and 345 more...
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Sound or sequence
dulcimer, borborygmi, ecchymosis, scrivener, fustilugs, zarf, bawdyhouse, googleable, archfiend, gymkhana, cuckoopint, pilpul and 104 more...
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A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Words gathered while reading A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce.
refectory, soutane, ha-ha, jewelly, girt, centenary, collywobbles, coadjutor, catafalque, beeftea, pierhead, bedad and 235 more...
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Odd-Ball
Just plain fun to say and wonder about their origins.
rapscallion, ramahanukwanzmas, cockamamie, nincompoop, hemidemisemiquaver, antiinterdenomina..., cattywampus, ragamuffin, tatterdemalion, blunderbuss, brobdingnagian, tintinnabulation and 127 more...
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When I'm Feeling Windy
wiiiiiiiind
sirocco, zephyr, fiat, tramontana, typhoon, cyclone, hurricane, haboob, khamsin, aajej, africo, alm and 125 more...
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And thus on to the conclusion
I used to do this in a Word document, but now I'm doing it in Wordie.
vis a tergo, harmattan, simoom, dionaea, albata, paktong, scagliola, ignis fatuus, brummagem, taciturn, borborygmus, graustark and 7 more...
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These are permanent winds that live i...
being the names of desert winds, including but not limited to those described in 'The English Patient,' and of Levantine winds.
sirocco, ghibli, khamsin, aajej, africo, alm, arifi, aeref, rifi, bist roz, haboob, harmattan and 12 more...
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moderatelyworded
wherewithal, logarithm, peregrine, fecundity, ephemeral, scallywag, simoom, chiasmus, superfluous, dahlia, seraphic, wanderlust and 3 more...
Tweets
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