Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. The west wind.
- n. A gentle breeze.
- n. Any of various soft light fabrics, yarns, or garments.
- n. Something that is airy, insubstantial, or passing.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The west wind; poetically, any soft, mild, gentle breeze.
- n. In entomology, a butterfly of the genus Zephyrus.
- n. A trade-name for a textile fabric or yarn, very fine and light of its kind, and for some other things of similar qualities: chiefly in attributive use: as, zephyr worsted; zephyr crackers (that is, biscuits).
Wiktionary
- n. a light wind from the west
- n. any light refreshing wind; a gentle breeze
- n. any thing of fine, soft, or light quality, especially fabric
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. The west wind; poetically, any soft, gentle breeze.
WordNet 3.0
- n. (Greek mythology) the Greek god of the west wind
- n. a slight wind (usually refreshing)
Etymologies
- From Ancient Greek Ζέφυρος (Zephuros, "westerly wind") (Wiktionary)
- Middle English Zephirus, Zephyrus, from Latin Zephyrus, from Greek Zephuros. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Surges of energy, kaleidoscopic sunlight through the leaves, the soft breeze that makes me want to say the word "zephyr" -- this mindless simplicity can be called happiness.”
Bella Tuscany: Summary and book reviews of Bella Tuscany by Frances Mayes.
“With these nine figures, and with the sign 0 which the Arabs call zephyr, any number whatsoever is written, as will be demonstrated.”
“Another thing they've talked about putting into place is a software program they're calling zephyr which will allow parents to see if their child has a MySpace profile and see what age their child is claiming to be.”
“The software called zephyr (ph) will be available this summer.”
“This is what happened after the convention of the blackbirds: A moaning south wind brought rain; a southwest wind turned the rain to snow; what is called a zephyr, out of the west, drifted the snow; a north wind sent the mercury far below freezing.”
The Complete Project Gutenberg Writings of Charles Dudley Warner
“He's protecting -- or stealing -- a really, really, really neat battery (yes: a battery) called the zephyr, which was designed by a supergenius young man named Simon (Paul Dano).”
“Today he wanted me to spell "zephyr" and see how many points that would be on a triple-word.”
“The day was cloudless and fine, albeit a Colorado "zephyr" was blowing, and the party, with perhaps the single exception of the horse, felt in fine spirits.”
Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Vol. XVI., December, 1880.
“Harley P. Hennage had crossed from the eating-house, and had just reached the porch of the Silver Dollar saloon, when above the whistling of the "zephyr" he heard the muffled reports of three pistol shots.”
“Donna dismounted, tying Friar Tuck to the "zephyr" by the simple process of dropping the reins over his head, and hurried into the house to prepare her mother's old room for the reception of the wounded man.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘zephyr’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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Words
phantasmagoria, eviscerate, avast, simulacrum, varicose, oblique, gestalt, ersatz, vernal, vivace, stellate, synecdoche and 330 more...
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Mobying Along
looks like there's not an open Moby Dick list. So now there is.
hypos, Manhattoes, circumambulate, mole, grapnels, bowsprit, asphaltic, mazy, tranced, cataract, ungraspable, judgmatically and 227 more...
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New words
new words or spelling issues
voluble, Metagrobolize, salubrious, calumny, fugacity, withdrawal, bourse, hypertrophy, leitmotif, argot, improvident, damask and 241 more...
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Stink Different™
What-the-smell is that?
hircine, jumentous, hyena butter, cadaverine, new car smell, teen spirit, parosmia, hircismus, ylang-ylang, burnt hair, hydrogen sulfide, gay bomb and 115 more...
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EN - pronunciation fun
All words of the poem
The Chaos
by Gerard Nolst Trenité
Dearest creature in creation,
Study English pronunciation.
I will teach you in my verse <...abyss, ache, actual, advice, aerie, age, ague, aisles, alas, alien, alive, allowed and 406 more...
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phrontistery-z
from phrontistery.info
zyzzyva, zythum, zymurgy, zymotic, zymotechnics, zymosis, zymosimeter, zymometer, zymology, zymogenic, zymite, zymic and 208 more...
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Steampunk
Words used quite often in steampunk
ansible, airship, chymical, valve, clockwork, dirigible, thaumaturgy, copper, bronze, difference engine, gear, rivets and 516 more...
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Naturals
dogtooth violet, adder's-tongue, ribbon fern, breadberry, echinate, stamen, aeolian, boreas, chinook, Eurus, firmament, edentata and 35 more...
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Greek to me
Gordian knot, Proteus, sisyphean, eudemonia, glossolalia, hemorrhage, hamadryad, aphotic, tautogeneity, anthropomorphism, polygamy, polygyny and 37 more...
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Aeolus's Vocabulary
Words concerning or relating to wind, air, sky, or heavens! Anything concerning Aeolus (King of the Winds) will be collected here.
aeromancy, zephyr, favonius, boreas, ether, etesian, empyrean, wind, breeze, gust, cyclone, nor'easter and 18 more...
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ancient signs
ouroboros, calypso, la sirene, Medusa, chthonic, aureole, colophon, succubus, peri, homunculus, zephyr, numinous and 56 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
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Words from Moby Dick
frigate, presumptuous, genteel, succor, hearthstone, gentry, factitious, bilious, insurgent, portent, enervate, genuflect and 303 more...
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Words I Know
List of most of the words I've learned
garner, abase, abate, abdicate, abduct, aberration, abet, abhor, abide, abject, abjure, abnegation and 1046 more...
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Logodaedalus' Lexical Locutionary
Discombobulating the illiterate since the middle of the last century.
adiaphora, agitprop, alliteration, apophthegm, autarky, bête noire, bezoar, biorhythm, braggadocio, canaille, confabulate, confrère and 332 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for zephyr.

offpost is how gums and bliss travel Feb 1, 2011
Charnell mack I move myself on the sofa - and a zephyr from the direction of the minor fans my cheek.(ONLINE DICTIONARY) Sep 27, 2010
JohnChaneski I'd like it if you had a section for "cultural usage" or something like that. When I think of "zephyr" I'm always reminded of the episode of The Twilight Zone titled "The Mighty Casey" in which a scientist creates a robot to pitch for a fictional baseball team called the Hoboken Zephyrs. Aug 3, 2009
seanmeade zephyr is the Greek equivalent of the Roman favonius Mar 26, 2007
kalidas definition: a soft warm breeze from the west ;
any of various lightweight fabrics and articles of clothing, like shawl
Also see:
BREEZE, GALE, GUST, BLAST, TORNADO, WATERSPOUT, TWISTER, SQUALL, HURRICANE, WHIRLWIND, CYCLONE, TYPHOON,FAVONIAN
Jan 1, 2007