rainern.
/ˈreɪnə/, U.S. /ˈreɪnər/ΚΠ
1839 T. Hood Ode to St. Swithin in Hood's Own 313 Mother of all the Family of Rainers! Saint of the Soakers!
1842 J. Stevenson tr. Sanhitá of Sáma Veda i. i. x. 19 O rainer of blessings, applaud our heaven-and-earth-produced, excellent, sacrificial viands.
1889 F. M. Müller Nat. Relig. xv. 484 The human mind must think a rainer behind the rain.
1898 Academy 26 Nov. 337/1 Aryan speech could express agents only—rainers, not rain; lighteners, not lightning.
2. An irrigation device which delivers a rain-like spray.
ΚΠ
1951 W. B. Mercer Brit. Farming viii. 84/2 Usually an irrigation plant is installed, permitting water..to be distributed over the crops by means of spray lines or rotary rainers.
1961 H. J. Hine Dict. Agric. Engin. 130 It is possible to divide up the methods of overhead application to field soil into spray lines, sprinklers and rainers.
1986 C. Culpin Farm Machinery (ed. 11) x. 172/2 Mobile equipment may use a large rotary rainer.
2004 Southland (N.Z.) Times (Nexis) 28 Feb. 34 A travelling Briggs Rotor rainer system irrigates 95ha and was especially valuable during the recent drought.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2008; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1839