weather-gaw
Syllables: wea·ther-gaw/ˈwɛðəɡɔː//ˈwɛðəɹˌɡɔ/
weather-gaw noun: an instance of some phenomenon in the sky said to signal bad weather, such as an incomplete or secondary rainbow, or a parhelion or sun dog; a weather-gall or water-gall.
Noun
weather-gaw (plural weather-gaws)
- An instance of some phenomenon in the sky said to signal bad weather, such as an incomplete or secondary rainbow, or a parhelion or sun dog; a weather-gall or water-gall.
- They asked Wattie, who was a very religious man, what could have induced him to gather his sheep on the Sabbath day? He answered, that he had seen an ill-hued weather-gaw that morning, and was afraid it was going to be a drift.1819 April, James Hogg, “Snow-storms”, in The Shepherd’s Calendar. […], volume II, Edinburgh: William Blackwood; London: T[homas] Cadell, published 1829, →OCLC, page 258
- [S]ee how much heavier the clouds fall every moment, and see these weather-gaws that streak the lead-coloured mass with partial gleams of faded red and purple.1822, [Walter Scott], chapter IV, in The Pirate. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC, page 59
- A period of fine weather in the midst of bad weather.
- "This is a fine day after the storm." "Aye, but aa doot it's a weather-gaw."1893–1894, Oliver Heslop, “WEATHER-GAW”, in Northumberland Words. A Glossary of Words Used in the County of Northumberland and on the Tyneside, volume IJ, London: [F]or the English Dialect Society by...
Examples of weather-gaw in a sentence
- ‘The weather-gaw’ he scans above the hill, / Wherein the rainbow's hues with watery sheen / Gleam beautiful upon the grey-dark sky, / Yet ominous of storm; […]1875, John Veitch, “The Growth of Nature Feeling”, in The Tweed and Other Poems, Glasgow: James Maclehose, publisher to the University...
- Weather-gaw, part of a rainbow seen, the greater part of the bow being intercepted.[1894 April 20 (date delivered), James Shaw, “Words, New to Me, Collected from the Dumfriesshire Dialect during the Last 30 Years”, in The...
- Those weather-gaws aren't out for nothing.1929, L[ucy] M[aud] Montgomery, “Marigold Entertains”, in Magic for Marigold, Toronto, Ont.: McClelland and Stewart, →OCLC, section 4, page...
Forms of weather-gaw
| plural | weather-gaws |
|---|
Origin of weather-gaw
Probably borrowed from Scots weather-ga, weather-gaw, weather-gow, possibly from English weather-gall, from weather + gall (“blister, swelling; (figurative) something exasperating or galling”). cognates * Dutch weergal * German wettergalle
Questions about weather-gaw
- What does weather-gaw mean?
- Weather-gaw means an instance of some phenomenon in the sky said to signal bad weather, such as an incomplete or secondary rainbow, or a parhelion or sun dog; a weather-gall or water-gall.
- How do you use weather-gaw in a sentence?
- ‘The weather-gaw’ he scans above the hill, / Wherein the rainbow's hues with watery sheen / Gleam beautiful upon the grey-dark sky, / Yet ominous of storm; […]
- What part of speech is weather-gaw?
- Weather-gaw is a noun.
- How do you pronounce weather-gaw?
- Weather-gaw is pronounced /ˈwɛðəɡɔː/ (UK).
- What is the plural of weather-gaw?
- The plural of weather-gaw is weather-gaws.
Words near weather-gaw in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: weather-gaw (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-uk-weather-gaw.ogg, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-weather-gaw.wav.
Cite this entry: “weather-gaw.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/weather-gaw. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.