| 释义 |
‖ khamsin|ˈkæmsɪn|
Forms: 7 camsim, 8–9 campsin, (9 kampseen), 9 kamsin, khamsin, -seen.
[Arab. khamsīn, mod. colloquial form (= oblique case) of khamsūn fifty (see def.).]
An oppressive hot wind from the south or south-east, which in Egypt blows at intervals for about 50 days in March, April, and May, and fills the air with sand from the desert.
1685Boyle Salub. Air 74 A kind of Dew, which..purifies the Air from all the Infection of Camsims. 1757Huxham in Phil. Trans. L. 428 The wind we had, like the Campsin, actually blew hot. 1804C. B. Brown tr. Volney's View Soil U.S. 142 The kamsin, or south wind, in Egypt and the south-west at Bagdat and Bussora, have the same properties. 1883E. F. Knight Cruise ‘Falcon’ (1887) 65 The atmosphere is hot, dry, and oppressive as that of North Africa when the khamsin blows. 1923F. S. Marvin Sci. & Civiliz. 29 Physical contrasts of seasonal and regional fertility are abrupt; solar heat contends with Nile water, sea breeze with ‘hamseen’.
attrib.1896Blackw. Mag. Sept. 332 The hot khamseen winds parch the fields. |