Also (1 stearm north.), 3–7 storme (3 steorm, storem, 5 stourme, starme). [Com. Teut. (not recorded in Gothic): OE. storm masc. corresp. to Fris., OS. (MLG., Du.) storm, OHG. (MHG., mod.G.) sturm, ON. storm-r (Sw., Da. storm):—OTeut. *sturmo-z (whence Rom. *stormo: see STOUR sb.1), f. root *stur- (? *stwer-) of STIR v.]
I. 1. A violent disturbance of the atmosphere, manifested by high winds, often accompanied by heavy falls of rain, hail, or snow, by thunder and lightning, and at sea by turbulence of the waves. Hence sometimes applied to a heavy fall of rain, hail, or snow, or to a violent outbreak of thunder and lightning, unaccompanied by strong wind.
More explicitly storm of hail, † lightning, rain, † thunder; also with the sb. prefixed, as HAILSTORM, RAIN-storm, SNOW-STORM, THUNDER-STORM.
c. 825. Vesp. Psalter, xlix. 3. Fyr in ʓesihðe his beorneð & in ymbhwyrfte his storm strong. Ibid., liv. 9. Ic bad hine se mec halne dyde from lytelmodum & storme.
c. 950. Lindisf. Gosp., Matt. xvi. 3. To dæʓ [bið] stearm, faʓas forðon unrotlic heofon.
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., III. 274. Seo lyft ðe we ymbe sprecað astihð up fornean oð þone monan & abyrð ealle wolcna stormas.
a. 1122. O. E. Chron. (Laud MS.), an. 1070. Þa com an mycel storm & to dræfede ealle þa scipe þær þa gersumes wæron inne.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 143. Ech eorþe scal hwakien on his ecsene alse deoð þe see in storme.
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 161. Storemes falleð in þe sæ, and to-worpeð hit.
a. 1225. Juliana, 76. As ha weren in wettre com a steorm [v.r. strom] & draf ham to londe.
a. 1225. [see STILL B 2].
c. 1386. Chaucer, Knt.’s T., 1122. Ther ran a rumbel and a swough As though a storm sholde bresten euery bough.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 7631. The stourme wex still.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 477/2. Storm, wedyr, nimbus, procella, altanus. Storm, yn the see, turbo.
c. 1475. Rauf Coilȝear, 32. His steid aganis the storme staluartlie straid.
1594. Kyd, Cornelia, I. 82. The windie storme Doth topside-turuey tosse thee as thou flotest. Ibid., II. 93. Enemies … Beat backe like flyes before a storme of hayle.
1597. Donne, Poems, Storm, 32. And what at first was call’d a gust, the same Hath now a stormes, anon a tempests name.
1610. Shaks., Temp., II. ii. 19. Heres … another Storme brewing, I beare it sing ith’ winde.
1621. in Foster, Eng. Factories India (1906), 280. A storme of thunder and rayne came.
1627. Capt. Smith, Sea Gram., x. 47. A Storm is knowne … not to bee much lesse than a tempest, that will blow downe houses, and trees vp by the roots.
1665. Sir T. Herbert, Trav. (1677), 126. That night we … were entertained by … a sudden storm of rain, thunder, and lightning.
1725. De Foe, Voy. round World (1840), 18. The wind setting in at South-west, blew a storm.
1735. Johnson, Lobo’s Abyssinia, Voy., i. 2. We had our Rigging somewhat damag’d by a Storm of Lightning.
1788. Wesley, Jrnl., 6 Oct. When I came into the town, it blew a storm…. But it fell as suddenly as it rose. Ibid., 25 Nov. Though it blew a storm, and was piercing cold, we were sufficiently crowded at Dover.
1805. Scott, Lett., 18 Aug., in Lockhart (1837), II. ii. 60. The most dreadful storm of thunder and lightning I ever witnessed.
1847. Tennyson, Princess, IV. 256. Like the mystic fire on a mast-head, Prophet of storm.
1861. Dickens, Lett. (1880), II. 156. The storm was most magnificent at Dover.
1895. Law Times Rep., LXXIII. 156/2. Two vessels … drifted through the violence of a storm on to the toe of a breakwater.
in figurative context. c. 897. K. Ælfred, Gregory’s Past. C., ix. 58. Hwæt is ðonne ðæt rice & se ealdordom buton ðæs modes storm, se symle bið cnyssende ðæt scip ðære heortan?
1599. Shaks., Much Ado, V. iv. 42. Why what’s the matter? That you haue such a Februarie face, So full of frost, of storme, and clowdinesse.
1740. C. Wesley, Hymn, Jesu, lover of my soul, i. Hide me, o my Saviour, hide, Till the storm of life is past.
1850. Tennyson, In Mem., xxxiii. 1. O thou that after toil and storm Mayst seem to have reach’d a purer air.
b. Used spec. as the distinctive appellation of a particular degree of violence in wind. In mod. Meteorology: An atmospheric disturbance that in the Beaufort scale is classed as intermediate between a whole gale and a hurricane, having a wind-force estimated at 10–11 and a limit of velocity at from 56–75 miles per hour.
1801. Capper, Observ. Winds & Monsoons, Pref. p. xxiii. The tempest … is … the same as a hurricane, or whirlwind: I shall therefore use these words synonimously, and place them in the first order, or degree of violent winds. The storm, or what the English seamen call a hard gale, is likewise, I believe, nearly the same; I shall, therefore, make use of the former for the land, and the latter for the sea term, and reckon these in the second class.
1858. Fitzroy, Meteorol. Papers, III. 94/1. [Beaufort Scale.] 11 Storm.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., s.v. Storms, That is a storm which reduces a ship to her storm stay-sails, or to her bare poles.
c. spec. A snowstorm. Also, a quantity of fallen snow. Sc.
1681. Fountainhall, Chronol. Notes (1822), 8. A great storm of snow had fallen.
c. 1730. Burt, Lett. N. Scot. (1754), II. xviii. 67. There fell a very great Storm (as they call it) for by the Word Storm they only mean Snow.
1787. [J. Beattie], Scoticisms, 119. They turned him out,… though there was a storm of snow lying on the ground.
d. A period of hard weather with frost and snow. Sc. and Colonial.
1880. J. Colquhoun, Moor & Loch, I. 239. Even the sea-worm having failed at the end of that long continued storm.
1887. I. R., Lady’s Ranche Life in Montana, 24. This ‘storm,’ as they call the spell of cold weather, lasted about 10 days.
e. Magnetic storm: a magnetic disturbance observed simultaneously over a considerable portion of the globe.
1860. Sabine, in Proc. Roy. Soc., X. 634. The casual magnetic disturbances, or magnetic storms.
1871. Nature, 5 Oct., 441/1. Observations upon magnetic storms in higher latitudes.
f. Proverbial phrases.
A storm in a teacup (and earlier phrases: see quots.): a great commotion in a small community or about a trifling matter. [Prob. after L. fluctus excitare in simpulo (Cic.).]
1590. Greene, Neuer too late, II. (1600), L 3 b. No storme so sharpe to rent the little Reede.
1603. Drayton, Bar. Wars, III. lv. Let’s feare no Storme, before we feele a Showre.
1642. Fuller, Holy & Prof. St., V. xiv. 415. At last he is as welcome as a storm.
1678. Dk. Ormond, Let. Earl Arlington, 28 Dec., in Hist. MSS. Comm., Ormonde MSS. IV. 292. Our skirmish seems to be come to a period, and compared with the great things now on foot, is but a storm in a cream bowl.
1770. Gentl. Mag., XL. 569. He [has] … Been in a storm; this is a sea-phrase for being less than dead-drunk. Ibid. (1830), C. I. 49/2. Each campaign, compared with those of Europe, has been only, in Lord Thurlow’s phrase, a storm in a wash-hand basin.
1872–. [see TEA-CUP c].
1878. [see SLOP-BASIN].
2. transf. A heavy discharge or downfall (of missiles, blows).
Beowulf, 3117. Þonne stræla storm strengum ʓebæded scoc ofer scildweall.
1600. Fairfax, Tasso, XI. xxxiv. Adrastus first … through the falling storme did vpward clime Of stones, dartes, arrowes, fire, pitch and lime.
1615. Kyd, Span. Trag., I. ii. 53. Thicke stormes of bullets ran like winters haile.
1667. Milton, P. L., I. 172. The Sulphurous Hail Shot after us in storm. Ibid., VI. 546. This day will pour down … no drizling show’r, But ratling storm of Arrows barbd with fire.
1777. Potter, Æschylus, Persians, 486. Whilst broken rocks … And storms of arrows crush’d them.
1817. Scott, Harold, VI. xv. Then rose His mace, and with a storm of blows The mortal and the Demon close.
1849. W. S. Mayo, Kaloolah, ii. (1850), 24. She [the frigate] sent forth a storm of shot.
fig. 1842. Tennyson, St. Sim. Styl., 7. Battering the gates of heaven with storms of prayer.
3. fig. and in figurative context. a. A violent disturbance of affairs whether civil, political, social or domestic; commotion, sedition, tumult. More definitely storm of rebellion, state, strife, war, etc.
a. 1000. Andreas, 1236 (Gr.). Storm upp aras æfter ceasterhofum, cirm unlytel hæðnes heriʓes.
c. 1315. Shoreham, Poems, vii. 716. For þou [sc. the serpent] areredst þerne storm And alle þys hete, Acorsed be þou bestes by-syde.
c. 1420. Chron. Vilod., 910. Ryȝt so holy chyrche after þat starme Shalle haue þe maystre atte lest.
1477. Earl Rivers (Caxton), Dictes, 1. Subgette and thral vnto the stormes of fortune.
1593. Shaks., 2 Hen. VI., III. i. 349. I will stirre vp in England some black Storme, Shall blowe ten thousand soules to Heauen, or Hell.
1614. Bacon, Charge touching Duels, 9. It may cause suddaine stormes in Court, to the disturbance of his Maiestie.
1713. Pope, Prol. to Addison’s Cato, 21. A brave man struggling in the storms of fate.
1741. Kames, Decis. Crt. Sess. 1730–52 (1799), 33. Newlands dreading the storm, had retired out of the country.
1802. Canning, Song, Here’s to the pilot that weather’d the storm! [i.e., Pitt.]
1855. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., xii. III. 207. A violent storm broke forth. Daly was ordered to attend at the bar.
1868. Freeman, Norm. Conq., II. ix. 361. A monk of the house, who … contrived to weather all storms, and died in possession of his Abbey.
b. A tumultuous rush (of sound, tears, etc.); a vehement utterance (of words); a violent outburst (of censure, ridicule, etc.); a passionate manifestation of feeling.
1602. trans. Guarini’s Pastor Fido, IV. viii. M 2 b. That … afterward dost mooue A thousand stormes of sighes, of teares, of plaintes.
1611. Bible, Transl. Pref., ¶ 1. For, was there euer any thing proiected, that sauoured any way of newnesse … but the same endured many a storme of gaine-saying, or opposition?
1615. Chapman, Odyss., IX. 435. With stories of whistlings [Gr. πολλῆ ῥοίζω] then, his flocks he draue Vp to the mountaines.
1693. Dryden, Persius, I. 36. The Prose is Fustian, and the Numbers lame. All Noise, and empty Pomp, a storm of Words.
1712. Addison, Spect., No. 407, ¶ 4. How much more they would have been alarmed, had they heard him actually throwing out such a Storm of Eloquence.
1781. Cowper, Table-T., 491. The strings are swept with such a pow’r, so loud, The storm of music shakes th’ astonish’d crowd.
1832. Warren, Diary Physic., II. iii. 124. He concluded amid a storm of applause.
1847. Tennyson, Princess, v. 477. At which the storm Of galloping hoofs bare on the ridge of spears And riders front to front.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., iv. I. 484. He … faced the storm of invective which burst upon him from bar, bench, and witness box, with the insolence of despair.
1891. Farrar, Darkn. & Dawn, xxviii. Octavia disburdened the long-pent agony of repression in … a storm of weeping.
c. Commotion or unrest (of mind or soul); a tumultuous assemblage (of thoughts, feelings).
1569. Underdowne, Heliodorus, VII. 89. A whole storme of thoughtes in a manner ouerwhelmed her.
1728–46. Thomson, Spring, 299. These, and a thousand mixed emotions more,… vex the mind With endless storm.
1729. G. Adams, trans. Sophocl., Antig., III. v. II. 51. Still the same Violence of the Storms of her Soul torments her.
1864. Tennyson, Aylmer’s F., 322. Sir Aylmer reddening from the storm within, Then broke all bonds of courtesy, and crying ‘Boy’ [etc.].
1894. Hall Caine, Manxman, III. xii. 170. She … covered up her head in the clothes as before, but with a storm of other feelings.
d. Storm and stress [G. Sturm und Drang]: used to designate the movement in German literature about 1770–82, due to a school of young writers characterized by extravagance in the representation of violent passion, and by energetic repudiation of the ‘rules’ of the French critics.
Sturm und Drang, the title of a play by F. M. Klinger (1776), was seized upon by the historians of literature as aptly expressing the spirit of the school to which the author belonged.
1855. G. H. Lewes, Goethe, I. III. i. 140. [1771] The period known as the Storm and Stress period was then about to astonish Germany, and to startle all conventions, by works such as Gerstenberg’s Ugolino, Goethe’s Götz von Berlichingen, Klinger’s Sturm und Drang (from whence the name), and Schiller’s Robbers.
1900. F. H. Stoddard, Evol. Eng. Novel, iv. 144. That group of men whom collectively we take to illustrate the early Storm and Stress.
transf. 1839. Longf., Hyperion, II. viii. Did you never have the misfortune … to know one of the benefactors of the human race, in the very ‘storm and pressure period’ of his indiscreet enthusiasm?
1879. Farrar, St. Paul, II. 411. Written during the years A.D. 57 and 58, a period pre-eminently of storm and stress in the Apostle’s life.
1900. G. C. Brodrick, Memories & Impressions, 227. I never knew John Bright personally until his time of storm and stress was over.
4. Path. A paroxysm, violent access (of pain or disease). Now chiefly with qualifying word, as asthmatic, rheumatic storm.
1545. Raynalde, Byrth Mankynde, 58. Another dyette there is, the whiche she ought to obserue in ye tyme of labour: when the stormes and thronges begyn to come on.
1612. Shelton, Quixote, I. III. iii. (1620), 134. He swet, and swet againe, with … excessiue swoonings. This storme and mishap endured about some two houres.
1897. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., III. 39. All these together as phenomena of the same rheumatic storm. Ibid. (1898), V. 288. The asthmatic storm flits about the lung, now here, now there. Ibid. (1899), VII. 819. We should expect the final storm of grave symptoms [in an attack of convulsions] to be preceded by indications of gradual failure.
b. Brain storm, nerve storm: see quots.
1890. Billings, Med. Dict., Nerve-storms, sudden attacks or paroxysms of neuroses or functional nervous disease.
1894. G. M. Gould, Illustr. Dict. Med., Brain-storm, a succession of sudden and severe phenomena, due to some cerebral disturbance.
II. [f. STORM v.]
5. Mil. A violent assault on a fortified place.
1645. Cromwell, in Carlyle, Lett. & Sp. (1845), I. 225. The day and hour of our storm was appointed. Ibid., 226. The General’s signal unto a storm, was to be, The … discharging four pieces of cannon.
1665. Boyle, Occas. Refl., II. iii. (1848), 107. A Fortress, whose Defendants are not Treacherous, can scarce be taken otherwise than either by Famine, or Storm.
1748. Anson’s Voy., II. xi. 255. We should have carried the fort by storm.
1813. Wellington, in Gurw., Desp. (1838), X. 548. I believe the Storm ought to take place by daylight.
1840. W. C. Burns, in I. Burns, Life, ix. (1870), 204. He served at eight storms, and twelve general engagements.
1869. Freeman, Norm. Conq. (1875), III. xii. 168. An attempt at a storm was beaten back by the defenders.
b. To take by storm: to take possession of by a sudden attack; to carry by assault.
1687. A. Lovell, trans. Thevenot’s Trav., I. 72. At length they took the Town by storm.
1734. trans. Rollin’s Anc. Hist. (1827), I. 149. The town was taken by storm.
1870. Rogers, Hist. Glean., Ser. II. 49. The rioters took Norwich by storm.
fig. 1847. C. Brontë, Jane Eyre, xxxiii. How I looked while these ideas were taking my spirit by storm, I cannot tell.
1889. Jessopp, Coming of Friars, i. 27. The Franciscans … were taking the world by storm.
III. 6. attrib. and Comb.: a. simple attrib., as storm-blast, -burst, -drop, -gust, -lift, -shock, -sprite; also storm-like adj. and adv.
1817. Coleridge, Anc. Mar., I. 41. And now the *Storm-blast came.
a. 1849. J. C. Mangan, Poems (1859), 69. The *storm-burst is over.
1836. Keble, in Lyra Apost. (1849), 167. Now the big *storm-drops fall.
1860. Tyndall, Glac., I. xxvii. 198. Wild *storm-gusts, sent down against us from Mont Blanc himself.
1870. Morris, Earthly Par., III. IV. 372. The storm began To rumble, and the *storm-lift moving slow, Over a full third of the sky to grow.
a. 1586. Sidney, Arcadia, III. Amphialus’ Dream (1605), 261. Whereout with sudden fall … There came a chariot faire … Whose *stormelike course staid not till hard by me it bided.
1607. Chapman, Bussy d’Ambois, II. i. 101. Storme-like he fell, and hid the feare-cold Earth.
1705. Mrs. Centlivre, Basset-Table, IV. I am rough and storm-like in my temper.
1849. Christina Rossetti, Poems (1904), 118/1. See the ancient pine that stands the firmer For the *storm-shock that it bore.
1817. Scott, Harold, III. ix. When the *storm-sprite shrieks in air.
b. instrumental, as storm-armed, -beat, -beaten, -bound, -encompassed, -laden, -rent, -swept, -tossed, -washed, -worn adjs.
1591. Sylvester, Ivry, 174. *Storm-arm’d Auster cruell.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., II. xii. 32. Here may thy *storme-bet vessel safely ride.
1814. Scott, To Dk. Buccleuch, 64. On every storm-beat cape.
1582. Stanyhurst, Æneis, I. (Arb.), 37. Lyke plodding *stormebeaten haglers.
c. 1600. Shaks., Sonn., xxxiv. 6. To dry the raine on my storme-beaten face.
a. 1639. T. Carew, Poems (1651), 28. I float Far from the shore, in a storm-beaten boat.
1855. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., xviii. IV. 191. Some stormbeaten pinnacle of rock.
1830. Carlyle, in Froude, Life (1882), II. 66. After so many weeks of *storm-bound inactivity.
1817. Shelley, Rev. Islam, VII. xxxvii. Like the fires that flare In *storm-encompassed isles.
1899. Mackail, Morris, II. 27. The *storm-laden air that he began to feel around him.
1794. Coleridge, To Yng. Lady, 21. Amid the yelling of the *storm-rent skies!
1805. Scott, Last Minstrel, VI. xxi. Where restless seas Howl round the *storm-swept Orcades.
1610–1. J. Davies (Heref.), Paper’s Compl. (Grosart), 78/1. Looke downe … Vpon Thy Church *storme-tossed euery houre.
1842. Carlyle, Past & Pr., I. vi. 48. Through all these stormtost seas,… the Supreme Powers are driving us.
1840. Thackeray, Shabby-genteel Story, ii. The *storm-washed shores of Margate in winter.
1885. Tennyson, Dead Prophet, v. A *storm-worn signpost not to be read.
c. objective, as storm-bringer; storm-boding, -breathing, -portending, -presaging adjs.
1672. Davenant, Masque (1673), 365. The *storm-boading Whale.
1594. Chapman, Shadow of Nt., D ij. *Storme-breathing Lelaps.
1552. Huloet, *Storme brynger,… nimbifer.
1582. Stanyhurst, Æneis, I. (Arb.), 35. But with a flaw suddeyn chauffing stormbringer Orion, Spurnt vs too the waters.
1845. Bailey, Festus (ed. 2), 198. A *storm-portending cloud.
1809. Scott, Poacher, 143. The waning moon, with *storm-presaging gleam.
d. Special comb.: storm-area, the area of the earth’s surface over which a storm spreads itself; also fig.; storm-beach (see quot.); storm-bell (a) [cf. G. sturmglocke] an alarm bell; (b) (see quot. 1910); storm-belt, a belt or zone in which storms occur periodically; storm-breeder (see quot.); storm card, a transparent disc marked with lines representing the wind-directions of a cyclonic storm, to be placed over the ship’s position on the chart in order to ascertain the course of the storm-center; storm center, the central area of a cyclonic storm, characterized by comparative calmness; fig. the central point around which a storm of controversy, trouble, etc., rages; the seat of disease, sedition, and the like; storm-circle = storm-card; storm-clock (a) [G. sturmglocke], nonce-use an alarm bell; (b) a meteorograph, spec. one devised by Sir F. Ronalds (Cent. Dict., Suppl., 1909); storm-cloud, a heavy cloud that threatens or comes with rain; also fig.; stormcoat, a waterproof coat or heavy overcoat for use in stormy weather; storm-compass = storm-card (Cent. Dict.); storm-cone = CONE sb.1 9; storm-current (see quot.); storm door U.S., an outer or supplementary door for use in stormy weather; storm-drum, a canvas cylinder hoisted in conjunction with the storm cone as a weather-signal; = DRUM sb.1 8 b; storm-fire = CORPOSANT; storm-flag (a) U.S., each of the flags used in the U.S. system of storm-signalling (Cent. Dict.); (b) the smallest national flag used at posts and flown only in stormy weather (W., 1911); storm-glass, a hermetically sealed tube containing a solution that becomes flocculent on the approach of a storm; storm-god, a deity supposed to rule the storms; so also storm-goddess; storm-head window, a kind of dormer window; † storm-hole, ? an opening made in a wall for letting out water resulting from a storm; storm-house U.S., a temporary shelter against storm for workmen (Cent. Dict.); storm-jacket, a weatherproof jacket; storm-jib Naut. (see quot. 1867); storm-kite (see quot.); storm-light, the lurid light seen in a stormy sky; also = CORPOSANT; storm mizen, -pane (see quots.); storm-path = storm-track; storm-pavement (see quot.); † storm-pole Mil., each of a series of stakes driven into a defensive work as a protection against assault; storm-porch, a porch for the protection of an outer door from storms; storm power = storm-god; storm-proof a., (a) impervious to storm; (b) proof against storming or assault; also fig.; storm-sail (see quot. 1867); storm-shutter, an outside window-shutter for use in stormy weather; storm-signal, a signal exhibited at coastguard stations, etc., to give warning of the approach and direction of dangerous winds; also fig.; hence storm-signalling vbl. sb., the signalling of storms; also attrib.; storm-spencer = storm-trysail; storm-stayed (-staid), chiefly Sc., prevented by stress of weather from making or continuing a journey; storm-staysail, a staysail of reduced dimensions for use in a storm; storm-stead a. Sc. = storm-stayed; storm-system, the group of low-pressure areas (revolving round a center of lowest pressure) constituting a cyclonic storm; storm track, the path traversed by the center of a cyclonic storm; storm-trysail (see quot.); storm-warning, warning of the approach of a storm obtained by meteorological observation; storm-water, (a) an abnormal amount of surface water resulting from a heavy fall of rain or snow; also attrib.; (b) poet., water agitated by a storm; storm-wave, an abnormally heavy wave due to cyclonic disturbance which rolls across the ocean and frequently causes the inundation of low-lying coast lands; also fig.; storm-wind, the wind that accompanies a storm; also fig.; storm-window, (a) = storm-head window; (b) an outer window to protect the inner from the effects of storms (Cassell, 1888); † storm-winnock (-windoik) Sc. = prec. (a); storm-zone = storm-belt.
1853. W. R. Birt, Handbk. Law of Storms, 29. The above considerations lead to a most important division of the *storm area.
1898. Daily News, 8 Nov., 4/7. As the day for the meeting of the Czar’s Conference on Peace draws near, the storm-area seems to be steadily extending.
1882. Geikie, Text-bk. Geol., III. I. iii. 277. Accumulations of gravel or *‘storm-beaches’ are often thrown up by storms, even above the level of ordinary high-tide mark.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., III. I. iv. At two o’clock the *stormbell shall be sounded,… all Paris shall rush … and have itself enrolled.
1910. Encycl. Brit., III. 688/2. A storm-bell warns travellers in the plain of storms approaching from the mountains.
1891. Century Dict., *Storm-belt.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., *Storm-breeders, heavy cumulo-stratus clouds.
1844. *Storm card [see storm circle].
1894. Harper’s Weekly, 7 April, 315. It establishes a sort of Weather Bureau of disease, and … is to show … where the *storm centres of communicable disease are.
1900. A. Church & Peterson, Nervous & Mental Dis. (ed. 2), 181. The initial or signal symptom … becomes highly significant as pointing to the storm-center, the point of greatest instability and usually the seat of organic disease.
1900. Jrnl. Sch. Geog. (U.S.), June, 228. To fix the direction of the storm centre from the vessel, it is thus only necessary to face the wind.
1844. H. Piddington, Horn-bk. of Storms, 5. The horn plates in the pockets of this book are what is called Col. Reid’s Hurricane, or *Storm, circles, or cards.
1819. Scott, Leg. Montrose, xiv. ‘That,’ said he, must be the alarm—the *storm-clock, as the Germans call it.’ Ibid. (1822), Maid of Isla, ii. Her white wing gleams through mist and spray, Against the *storm-cloud.
1897. Outing (U.S.), XXX. 162/2. *Stormcoat.
1863. in Fitzroy, Rep. Meteorologic Office (1864), p. xi. note. This morning the *storm cone was hoisted.
1843. H. Piddington, in Jrnl. Asiatic Soc. Bengal, XII. I. 398. The *‘storm current’ may be briefly described as circular streams on the circumferences of rotatory storms.
1878. E. B. Tuttle, Border Tales, 29. The horses … broke loose from the stable, and begun gnawing the *storm doors in front of the officers’ quarters.
1866. Daily Tel., 18 Jan., 4/5. It is not because occasional perturbations … baffle the reckonings of science, that meteorology should be ignored—four times out of five the *storm-drum is right.
1881. Times, 19 Jan., 10/3. This evening the south storm-drum is hoisted at the semaphore at the Dockyard.
a. 1847. Eliza Cook, Birds, v. 21. The *storm-fire burns, but what care they?
1883. A. I. Menken, Infelicia, 38. Heed not the storm-fires that so terribly burn in the black sky.
1823. Mech. Mag., I. 274. Those glasses … which are sold in the shops of opticians, under the name of *‘Storm Glasses.’
1864. Spencer, Biol., 78. The relation between the phenomena occurring in the storm-glass and in the atmosphere respectively, is really not a correspondence at all.
1877. C. P. Tiele, Outl. Hist. Relig., 113. In this conflict he [Indra vritrahan] is surrounded by the Maruts or *storm-gods, led by Rudra.
1869. Tozer, Highl. Turkey, II. 320. The character of a *storm-goddess, in which she [the Lamia] thus appears.
1833. Loudon, Encycl. Archit., § 455. The next characteristic is the *storm-head window.
1419. Mem. Ripon (Surtees), III. 146. Et in salar. Will. de Cloke, carpentarii, emendantis diversos defectus in le Ales, et facientis *Stormholes.
1844. H. Miller, in W. K. Leask, Life, iv. (1896), 109. Encased in his ample-skirted *storm-jacket of oiled canvas.
1833. Marryat, P. Simple, xlvii. Another try-sail and a *storm-jib were expanded to the wind.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Storm-jib, in cutters, the fifth or sixth size: the inner jib of square-rigged ships. Ibid., *Storm-kite, a contrivance for sending a hawser from a stranded vessel to the shore.
1843. Emerson, Misc. Papers, Carlyle, Wks. (Bohn), III. 315. It is not serene sunshine, but everything is seen in lurid *storm-lights.
1906. Month, June, 629. That the poets … should many of them allude to the mysterious storm-lights in their poems, is not surprising.
1794. Rigging & Seamanship, I. 135. *Storm Mizen. This sail is triangular, and … bends on the fore part to a horse, abaft and parallel to the mizen-mast.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., *Storm-pane, a supplementary, framed sheet of glass, to substitute, in an emergency, for a broken pane in a lighthouse.
1888. Stevenson, Across the Plains (1892), 176. The reflectors scratched, the spare lamp unready, the storm-panes in the storehouse.
1850. W. R. Birt, Hurricane Guide, 55. The lower and upper branches of the *storm paths of the Northern Atlantic.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., *Storm-pavement, the sloping stone paving which lines the sea-face of piers and breakwaters.
1647. Sprigge, Anglia Rediv. (1854), 257. The line, both upon the bulwarks and the curtain was strongly set with *storm-poles.
1879. Lumberman’s Gaz., 15 Oct. Houses … should be protected at every much-used entrance, by *storm-porches.
1869. Ruskin, Q. of Air, i. § 20. Another beneficent *storm power, Boreas, occupies an important place in early legend.
1594. Nashe, Unfort. Trav., C 4. Sailers doo pitch their apparell to make it *storme proofe.
1886. N. L. Walford, Parl. Generals of Civil War, 258. There had not been sufficient time … to make them [sc. the fortifications] storm-proof.
1911. J. H. Rose, Pitt & Gt. War, vii. 192. The constitution had suffered dilapidation, but it was storm-proof.
1840. R. H. Dana, Bef. Mast, xi. We came down to double-reefed topsails and the *storm-sails.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Wond-bk., Storm-sail, a sail made of stout No. 1 canvas, of reduced dimensions, for use in a gale.
1908. Westm. Gaz., 18 March, 10/1. All the windows, too, have *storm-shutters.
1863. in Fitzroy, Rep. Meteorologic Office (1864), p. xi. note. Drum *storm signal hoisted at noon.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Storm signal, the hoisting of a danger-flag. Also, Fitzroy’s drum and cone, which show the direction of the expected gale.
1905. W. O’Brien, Recoll., vii. 136. We, who knew Egan’s storm-signals, saw the tips of his ears redden and a bright scarlet point appear in the centre of his cheeks.
1875. Chamb. Jrnl., 2 Jan., 8/1. *Storm-signalling apparatus is supplied by the Board of Trade.
1857. M. F. Maury, in Diana F. M. Corbin, Life (1888), 135. The *storm-spencer had been blown away.
1491. Acta Dom. Conc. (1839), 203/1. In the accioun … tueching þe takin of a schip & gudes … *stormestaid & drevin to þe Erlis fery.
1787. Burns, Let. W. Cruikshank, June. I was storm-staid two days at the foot of the Ochill Hills.
1856. Kane, Arct. Expl., II. xxii. 216. An abrupt change of the weather gave us a howling gale outside, and we were all of us storm-stayed.
1880. Miss Bird, Japan, I. 344. The yadoyas are crowded with storm-staid travellers.
1850. L. Hunt, Autob., II. 255. We set the fore *storm-staysail anew.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, III. iii. (heading), How Troiane goddis apperis to Enee, And how that he was *stormested on the see.
1632. Lithgow, Trav., III. 94. I stayed sixteene dayes, storme-sted with Northernely winds.
1888. Barrie, Auld Licht Idylls, ii. 41. Storm-stead shows used to emphasize the severity of a Thrums winter.
1897. Daily News, 26 Jan., 7/1. Later in the day the *storm system continued to increase in depth.
1838. W. Reid, Law of Storms, 430. The *storm tracks here traced.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., *Storm-trysail, a fore-and-aft sail, hoisted by a gaff, but having no boom at its foot, and only used in foul weather.
1867. A. Buchan, Meteorol., 9. *Storm-warnings.
1883. Encycl. Brit., XVI. 158/1. Weather Forecasts and Storm Warnings.
1879. Cassell’s Techn. Educ., III. 394. *Storm-waters, as they may be called,… fall in such quantities within … an hour or two as entirely to overcharge all ordinary systems of drainage.
1887. Meredith, Ball. Tragic Life, 92. Howled and pressed the ghastly crew, Like storm-waters over rocks.
1905. Daily Chron., 3 July, 6/7. Heavy rain began to come down—so heavy that the storm-water sewers were not able to take it off.
1839. D. Milne, in Trans. R. Soc. Edin., XIV. 486. This *storm-wave (for such it may not improperly be termed) moved … through the Atlantic in a N.NE. direction.
1874. Lisle Carr, Jud. Gwynne, I. iv. 120. Her bosom would heave with a great storm-wave of passionate emotion.
1839. Longf., Hyperion, I. vii. The *storm-wind came from the Alsatian hills.
1873. Hamerton, Intell. Life, II. iv. (1876), 72. Like … a steamer with a storm-wind directly against her and an iron-bound coast behind.
1892. G. F. X. Griffith, trans. Fouard’s St. Peter, 78. The storm-winds of trial swept over them.
1824. Scott, Redgauntlet, Let. iv. There were what are called *storm-windows in the roof.
15[?]. Aberd. Reg. (MS.) (Jam.). The bigging of the *storme-windoik.
1889. R. Hinman, Eclectic Physical Geogr., vi. 94. The regions between 40° and 70° latitude are the great *storm zones of the world.
e. In names of certain birds, the movements or cries of which are supposed to presage a storm: storm-bird (a) = storm-petrel; (b) = thunder-bird b (see THUNDER sb. 6); (c) a local name (Norfolk) for the fieldfare (Swainson); storm-cock, the missel-thrush; also locally applied to the fieldfare and the green woodpecker (Miss Jackson, Shropsh. Word-bk.); storm-finch († -finck, † -fink) = storm-petrel; storm-petrel, Procellaria pelagica (cf. STORMY a. 3); storm thrush, the missel-thrush.
These words are sometimes used fig. to designate a person whose activity is a sign of impending discord.
1752. J. Hill, Hist. Anim., 514. [The Petrel] was first mentioned in the Stockholm Transactions, under the name of Procellaria, or the *Storm-bird.
1867. Goldw. Smith, 3 Eng. Statesmen (1882), 34. Lady Carlyle—a storm-bird of this parliamentary storm.
1913. J. R. Harris, Boanerges, xxv. 267. The Arabian storm-bird or thunder-bird.
1769. G. White, Selborne, To Barrington, 2 Nov. Missel-bird, Turdus viscivorus.… Is called in Hampshire and Sussex the *storm-cock.
1902. G. Brenan, House of Percy, II. ii. 32. Charles Paget—storm-cock of Catholic agitation.
1661. Lovell, Hist. Anim. & Min., Isagoge a 6. [Aquatic birds] as the … *stormfinck.
1804. Bewick, Brit. Birds, II. 249. Stormy Petrel. Storm Finch, or Little Petrel.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Storm-finch, the petrel, or Mother Cary’s chicken.
1833. P. J. Selby, Illustr. Brit. Ornith., II. 533. Common *Storm-Petrel. Ibid., 537. Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel.
1885. Newton, in Encycl. Brit., XVIII. 712/1. The common Storm-Petrel, Procellaria pelagica,… is the ‘Mother Carey’s chicken’ of sailors, and is widely believed to be the harbinger of bad weather.
1854. Miss Baker, Northampt. Gloss., Storm-cock or *Storm-thrush. The missel-thrush.
1913. Engl. Rev., April, 157. Like a storm-thrush piping its warning.
