Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Wisps of precipitation streaming from a cloud but evaporating before reaching the ground.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The penis.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun music, uncountable A type of note used in plainsong notation, having a tail.
  • noun meteorology, countable A streak of rain or snow that is dissipated in falling and does not reach the ground, commonly appearing descending from a cloud layer.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun light wispy precipitation that evaporates before it reaches the ground (especially when the lower air is low in humidity)

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin, twig, virga.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin virga ("rod").

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Examples

  • When used singly, the acutus, too, retained its shape fairly accurately and from its shape received the name virga (virgula).

    The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 10: Mass Music-Newman 1840-1916 1913

  • There was a horizon-to-horizon rainbow to the northeast, a "sun pillar" to the northwest, and "virga" - wisps of precipitation (such as snow or ice) streaming down from a cloud but evaporating before reaching the ground.

    Kansas.com Blogs Master Site Feed 2009

  • Most of this -- and -- and, folks, get ready -- this is a nerd alert for you -- most of this is virga, which is precipitation that's so light, it's not even reaching the surface of the Earth.

    CNN Transcript Jun 28, 2006 2006

  • Thus even the clivis (more correctly clinis) was at an early period called virga flexa, and the torculus could be considered as a pes flexus.

    The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 10: Mass Music-Newman 1840-1916 1913

  • Essentially, much of the atmospheric moisture over these continental areas appears to come from rain that evaporates before it reaches the ground (it's called "virga"), as well as moisture given off by the lush tropical plant life through evapotranspiration.

    All Today's News - Sightline Daily 2009

  • Some of the snow you see on radar is virga - i.e. snow that is not yet reaching the ground.

    Update: Snow covering metro region Jason Samenow 2010

  • And what you see moving through the D.C. area there, that's virga; it's precipitation that evaporates before it ever reaches the ground.

    CNN Transcript Jan 18, 2009 2009

  • In fact, most of what you're seeing out in this area is what we call "virga."

    CNN Transcript Dec 30, 2009 2009

  • Saddam Hussein's-strong-man-reign had evaporated into the virga of a scraggly peon trapped in a urine ditch.

    Barry Michael Cooper: Kenneth Coles & Grassy Knolls: The Sole Assasination of a Bush Legacy 2009

  • Helictotrichon pubescens, Dactylis glomerata, Agropyron tianschanicum, and Poa nemoralis and the forbs Solidago virga-aurea, Mulgedium azureum, Doronicum altaicum, Senecio soongoricus, Crepis sibirica, Aegopodium alpestre, and Cerastium dahuricum.

    Tian Shan montane conifer forests 2008

  • This weather event is known as “virga.” A thin layer of dry air sometimes finds its way near the surface. Rain falls from low-hanging clouds, but as the precipitation falls into that layer of dry air it evaporates.

    What’s a virga? It happened at the Oregon coast Josh Cozart 2023

Comments

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  • A term for rain that doesn't reach the ground

    December 12, 2006

  • often also applied to the curtain-like appearance of distant clouds with rain or snow falling from them

    November 19, 2008

  • The kind of rain that spammers offer you for $1.99 each.

    November 19, 2008

  • The Century Dictionary’s entry appears incomplete, yet seems the most etymologically apt.
    And the two etymology entries – is the one a counter-statement to the other?

    October 19, 2013