Definitions

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

  • noun The state of the atmosphere at a given time and place, with respect to variables such as temperature, moisture, wind velocity, and barometric pressure.
  • noun Adverse or destructive atmospheric conditions, such as high winds or heavy rain.
  • noun The unpleasant or destructive effects of such atmospheric conditions.
  • noun Changes of fortune.
  • intransitive verb To expose to the action of the elements, as for drying, seasoning, or coloring.
  • intransitive verb To discolor, disintegrate, wear, or otherwise affect adversely by exposure.
  • intransitive verb To come through (something) safely; survive.
  • intransitive verb To slope (a roof, for example) so as to shed water.
  • intransitive verb Nautical To pass to the windward of despite bad weather.
  • intransitive verb To show the effects, such as discoloration, of exposure to the elements.
  • intransitive verb To withstand the effects of weather.
  • adjective Nautical Of or relating to the windward side of a ship; windward.
  • adjective Relating to or used in weather forecasting.
  • idiom (make heavy weather of) To exaggerate the difficulty of something to be done.
  • idiom (under the weather) Somewhat indisposed; slightly ill.
  • idiom (under the weather) Intoxicated; drunk.
  • idiom (under the weather) Suffering from a hangover.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Wind; storm; tempest.
  • noun Cold and wet.
  • noun A light rain; a shower.
  • noun The state of the air or atmosphere with respect to its cloudiness, humidity, motions, pressure, temperature, electrical condition, or any other meteorological phenomena; the atmospheric conditions prevailing at any moment over any region of the earth: as, warm or cold weather; wet or dry weather; calm or stormy weather; fair or foul weather; cloudy or hazy weather.
  • noun Specifically, in weather-maps and -reports, the condition of the sky as to cloudiness and the occurrence of precipitation.
  • noun Change of the state of the atmosphere; meteorological change; hence, figuratively, vicissitude; change of fortune or condition.
  • noun The inclination or obliquity of the sails of a windmill to the plane of revolution.
  • noun An enervating atmosphere.
  • Nautical, toward the wind; windward: opposed to lee: as, weather bow; weather beam; weather rigging
  • To air; expose to the air; dry or otherwise affect by exposure to the open air.
  • To affect injuriously by the action of weather; in geology, to discolor or disintegrate: as, the atmospheric agencies that weather rocks.
  • In tile manufacturing, to expose (the clay) to a hot sun or to frost, in order to open the pores and separate the particles, that it may readily absorb water and be easily worked.
  • To slope (a surface), that it may shed water.
  • Nautical:
  • To sail to windward of: as, to weather a point or cape.
  • To bear up against and come safely through: said of a ship in a storm, as also of a mariner; hence, used in the same sense with reference to storms on land.
  • Figuratively, to bear up against and overcome, as trouble or danger; come out of, as a trial, without permanent damage or loss.
  • To suffer a change, such as discoloration or more or less complete disintegration, in consequence of exposure to the weather or atmosphere. See weathering, 2.
  • To resist or bear exposure to the weather.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To expose to the air; to air; to season by exposure to air.
  • transitive verb Hence, to sustain the trying effect of; to bear up against and overcome; to sustain; to endure; to resist.
  • transitive verb (Naut.) To sail or pass to the windward of.
  • transitive verb (Falconry) To place (a hawk) unhooded in the open air.
  • transitive verb (Naut.) Hence, to gain or accomplish anything against opposition.
  • transitive verb to encounter successfully, though with difficulty.
  • intransitive verb To undergo or endure the action of the atmosphere; to suffer meteorological influences; sometimes, to wear away, or alter, under atmospheric influences; to suffer waste by weather.
  • noun The state of the air or atmosphere with respect to heat or cold, wetness or dryness, calm or storm, clearness or cloudiness, or any other meteorological phenomena; meteorological condition of the atmosphere
  • noun Vicissitude of season; meteorological change; alternation of the state of the air.
  • noun Storm; tempest.
  • noun obsolete A light rain; a shower.

Etymologies

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

[Middle English weder, wether, from Old English weder; see wē- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Old English weder, from Proto-Germanic *wedran, from Proto-Indo-European *wedʰrom (=*we-dʰrom). Cognate with Dutch weer, German Wetter, Old Norse veðr (Danish vejr, Swedish väder) with Russian вёдро (vëdro, "fair weather") and perhaps Albanian vrëndë ("light rain").

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Examples

  • "Not often: if it is to be done in warm weather, I smoke them well before I begin; _in very cold weather_ is the best time, then it is unnecessary; simply turn the hive bottom up, mark off the proper size, and with a sharp saw take it off without trouble."

    Mysteries of Bee-keeping Explained 1842

  • : Check out @weather to get the latest weather news.

    doggdot.us 2009

  • When clouds settle on the tops of mountains, they indicate hard weather; and when the tops of mountains are clear, it is a sign of fair weather*

    The Complete Weather Guide: A Collection of Practical Observations for Prognosticating the ... Joseph Taylor, John Claridge 1812

  • The term weather refers to the short term changes in the physical characteristics of the troposphere.

    AP Environmental Science Chapter 4- The Atmosphere 2008

  • Right now, the weather is superatmospheric and therefore, in a sense, supermeteorological (can you really call it weather?)

    Directions kisobel 2003

  • When we remind our young readers that the thermometer in England seldom falls so low as zero, except in what we term weather of the utmost severity, they may imagine -- or, rather, they may try to imagine -- what 75 degrees _below_ zero must have been.

    The World of Ice 1859

  • When we remind our young readers that the thermometer in England seldom falls so low as zero, except in what we term weather of the utmost severity, they may imagine -- or rather, they may try to imagine -- what 75° _below_ zero must have been.

    The World of Ice 1859

  • "Climate encompasses the temperatures, humidity, rainfall, atmospheric particle count and numerous other meteorological factors in a given region over long periods of time, as opposed to the term weather, which refers to current activity."

    digg.com: Stories / Popular 2009

  • Yup, I can hear the echoes of it now, underneath the sounds of a squadron of pigs flying: "Uh, don't assume that many people will come out and buy tickets, you know the weather is always dicey in Portland until July."

    Another big night in Paulsonland (Jack Bog's Blog) 2009

  • Of course it helps that the weather is almost always sunny and dry and there is ample public parking nearby.

    Yet another big night for baseball (Jack Bog's Blog) 2009

Comments

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  • Contronymic in the sense: erode vs. persevere ("weather the storm").

    January 31, 2007

  • The Enlightened have but one master: The weather...

    --Jan Cox

    October 14, 2007

  • when it comes to verb, weather means to withstand

    August 31, 2013