Word.ws English Dictionary

boreas

Syllables: Bo·re·as/ˈbɔːɹɪəs/US/ˈbɔɹɪəs/

boreas noun: the north wind.

Noun

boreas (plural boreases)

  1. (obsolete, poetic) The north wind.
    • Whether it is most prudent to expose / Our lovely forms to keenest blasts of boreas1806 April 12, The Companion and Weekly Miscellany 1806-04-12: Vol 2 Iss 24
    Synonyms:
    northerly

Proper noun capitalized: Boreas

Boreas

  1. (Greek) The god of the North Wind.
    • For a Tempeſt. Take Eurus, Zephyr, Auſter and Boreas, and caſt them together in one Verſe. Add to theſe of Rain, Lightning, and of Thunder (the loudeſt you can) quantum ſufficit. Mix your Clouds and Billows well together till they foam, and thicken your Deſcription here and there with a Quickſand....1714 June 10, [Alexander Pope], “A Receit to make an Epick Poem”, in The Guardian, volume I, number 78, London: Printed for J[acob] Tonson, at Shakespear's-Head over-against Catherine-street in the...
    • BOREAS, one of the four Cardinal Winds, and one of the Deities of the Heathens, was the Son of Aſtræus and Aurora, and had his Seat at Thrace. Pindar calls him the King of Winds. [Footnote numbers omitted.]1735, Pierre Bayle with Pierre des Maizeaux, The Dictionary Historical and Critical of Mr Peter Bayle. The Second Edition, Carefully Collated with the Several Editions of the Original; in which many...
  2. (poetic) The north wind personified.
    • Now stands the Brere like a lord alone, / Puffed up with pryde and vaine pleasaunce. / But all this glee had no continuaunce: / For eftsones winter gan to approche; / The blustering Boreas did encroche, / And beate upon the solitarie Brere; / For nowe no succoure was seene him nere.1579, Immeritô [pseudonym; Edmund Spenser], The Shepheardes Calender: Conteyning Tvvelue Æglogues Proportionable to the Twelue Monethes. Entitled to the Noble and Vertuous Gentleman most Worthy of...
    • BEAT on, proud billows; Boreas blow; / Swell, curled waves, high as Jove's roof; / Your incivility doth ſhow, / That innocence is tempeſt proof; / Though ſurly Nereus frown, my thoughts are calm; / Then ſtrike, Affliction, for thy wounds are balm. [Attributed to Roger L'Estrange (1616–1704).]1781, [Mostyn John Armstrong], History and Antiquities of the County of Norfolk. Volume IX. Containing the Hundreds of Smithdon, Taverham, Tunstead, Walsham, and Wayland, volume IX, Norwich: Printed...

Synonyms of boreas

Antonyms

Forms of boreas

pluralboreases

Origin of boreas

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Βορέᾱς (Boréās).

Questions about boreas

What does boreas mean?
Boreas means the north wind.
What part of speech is boreas?
Boreas can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce boreas?
Boreas is pronounced /ˈbɔːɹɪəs/ (UK).
What is the plural of boreas?
The plural of boreas is boreases.

Words near boreas in the dictionary

  1. borealization
  2. boreally
  3. borealoside
  4. Borean
  5. Boreanaz
  6. boreas
  7. boreases
  8. boreaspidid
  9. boreaspidids
  10. borecole
  11. borecoles

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: boreas (page history and authors); Boreas (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-Boreas.wav.

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