weather vane

Noun

weather vane (plural weather vanes)

1. A mechanical device rotating around one axis and attached to an elevated object such as a roof for showing the direction of the wind.
   • From the graveyard gate one can count a dozen gayly painted farmhouses; the gilded weather-vanes on the big red barns wink at each other across the green and brown and yellow fields.1913, Willa Cather, “Neighboring Fields, I”, in O Pioneers!
   • This one is surmounted by a clock-tower with a bent weather-vane - the latter being the only disorderly object in sight.1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 164

   Synonyms:

   vane, weathercock

2. An indicator; something that reflects what the current situation is.
   • Since Elaine Showalter's 1985 article on the topic, Ophelia has been singled out as a role that depends for its power on the expression of female sexual desire, and, because of this, one that acts as a weather vane for attitudes towards women's sexuality.2017, Susan Shifrin, Women as Sites of Culture
   • Possibly though the best weather vane of the shippers' condition is the attitude of the mill trade as a whole toward present laxness in new orders.1918 July 25, “General Market Conditions”, in Hardwood Record, volume 45, number 7, page 17
3. (figuratively) A person or organization that changes their attitude and position based on the prevailing conditions rather than displaying any conviction.
   • The man who changes with every wind of doctrine is not a thinker but a weather vane.1960 November 23, The Christian Century, volume 77, page 1373
   • Laval was a political weather vane, perpetually mobile, but always resting on the same base, himself, the Talleyrand of Aubervilliers.2003, Michael Curtis, Verdict on Vichy: Power and Prejudice in the Vichy France Regime