Word.ws English Dictionary

mackerel sky

mackerel sky noun: a sky filled with a regular pattern of altocumulus clouds somewhat resembling the skin of a mackerel.

mackerel sky: a sky filled with a regular pattern of altocumulus clouds somewhat resembling the skin of a mackerel
Image: Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

mackerel sky (plural mackerel skies)

  1. A sky filled with a regular pattern of altocumulus clouds somewhat resembling the skin of a mackerel.
    • […] in a fair day, if the Sky seem to be dappled with white Clouds, which is usually termed, A Mackerel-Sky, it commonly predicts rain:1717, Dictionarium Rusticum, Urbanicum & Botanicum, London: J. Nicholson et al., 2nd edition, “CLOUDS,”
    • The clouds were of the fleecy kind, which sailors denominate a mackerel sky.1823, John Franklin, Narrative of a Journey to the Shores of the Polar Sea, London: John Murray, Appendix 3, p. 562

mackerel sky meaning in Tamil and Kannada

mackerel sky in Tamil

பஞ்சுத்திரள் மேக வானம்

mackerel sky in Kannada

ಬಂಗಡೆ ಆಕಾಶ

Examples of mackerel sky in a sentence

  • The sky was what is called a mackerel sky, rows and rows of faint down-plumes of cloud, just tinted with the midsummer sunset.1898, H. G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, London: Heinemann, Book 1, Chapter 13, p. 111:
  • But now they were higher and smaller, settling at last into a mackerel sky like a beach at low tide.1972, Richard Adams, Watership Down, Penguin, published 1974, Part 2, Chapter 25, p. 217:

Forms of mackerel sky

pluralmackerel skies

Origin of mackerel sky

From mackerel + sky.

Words formed from mackerel sky

Questions about mackerel sky

What does mackerel sky mean?
Mackerel sky means a sky filled with a regular pattern of altocumulus clouds somewhat resembling the skin of a mackerel.
What is mackerel sky in Tamil?
Mackerel sky in Tamil is பஞ்சுத்திரள் மேக வானம். See Mackerel sky meaning in Tamil.
How do you use mackerel sky in a sentence?
The sky was what is called a mackerel sky, rows and rows of faint down-plumes of cloud, just tinted with the midsummer sunset.
What part of speech is mackerel sky?
Mackerel sky is a noun.
What is the plural of mackerel sky?
The plural of mackerel sky is mackerel skies.

Words near mackerel sky in the dictionary

  1. mackerel pike
  2. mackerel pikes
  3. mackerel shark
  4. mackerel sharks
  5. mackerel skies
  6. mackerel sky
  7. mackerel sky and mare's-tails make lofty ships carry low sails
  8. mackerel sky and mare's-tails make tall ships carry low sails
  9. mackerel snapper
  10. mackerel snappers
  11. mackereler

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: mackerel sky (page history and authors); mackerel sky (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); mackerel sky (Kannada Wiktionary) (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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Cite this entry: “mackerel sky.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/mackerel_sky. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.