sirocco

Noun

sirocco (plural siroccos)

1. A hot and often strong southerly to southeasterly wind on the Mediterranean that originates in the Sahara and adjacent North African regions.
   • But come, the board is spread; our silver lamp / Is trimm’d, and heeds not the sirocco’s damp.1814, George Gordon, Lord Byron, Corsair, i:14
   • Diese Toleranz und largeur des Herzens, die Alles „verzeiht“, weil sie Alles „begreift“, ist Scirocco für uns.1888, Friedrich Nietzsche, The Antichrist 1

   Synonyms:

   ghibli

2. (colloquial) A draft of hot air from an artificial source of heat.
   • In the hearth at the north wall a large fire cracked and lisped, flushing the room with a dry sirocco that caused frozen skin to tingle.2003, Erik Larson, The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America, Random House, →ISBN, page 113