rainyadj.
/ˈreɪni/, U.S. /ˈreɪni/ 1. Of weather or climate: characterized by significant or exceptional amounts of rain; in which rain predominates.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > wet weather > [adjective] > wet (of weather, place, or time) > rainy
rainyOE
rainyOE
rainingc1400
droppinga1415
pluvious?1440
rainful1484
weeping1600
droppy1635
slattering1648
dripping1699
drippy1818
softish1855
feechie1975
OE Wulf & Eadwacer 10 Þonne hit wæs renig weder ond ic reotugu sæt.
a1425 J. Wyclif Sel. Eng. Wks. (1871) II. 235 (MED) Ofte tyme in reyny wedir, chirchis don good on halidai.
c1449 R. Pecock Repressor (1860) 183 (MED) It were aȝens the eese of the peple whiche schulde come therto in reyny and wyndi wedris.
a1500 Lessons of Dirige (Harl.) 174 in C. Horstmann Yorkshire Writers (1896) II. 383 (MED) My blood ys nessher thane ys sylke In reyny weder that sone wolle ffade.
1535 Bible (Coverdale) Ezra x. 13 It is a raynye wether, & they cannot stonde here without.
1604 S. Rowlands Looke to It 26 An Almanacke..To search and finde the rainy weather out.
1630 W. Prynne Anti-Arminianisme 280 The present tempestuous, rainie, vnseasonable weather threaten and prognosticke to vs for our apostasie.
1705 Boston News-let. 7 May 2/2 The Pensilvania Post not yet come in, and suppose the three days of bad Rainy Weather last week has hindred him.
1748 B. Robins & R. Walter Voy. round World by Anson ii. vii. 214 A rainy climate.
1828 Moore's Pract. Navigator (ed. 20) 128 When the wind was easterly, the weather was gloomy, dark, and rainy.
1839 C. Darwin in R. Fitzroy & C. Darwin Narr. Surv. Voy. H.M.S. Adventure & Beagle III. xiii. 279 Trees indicate a rainy climate, and hence a clouded state of atmosphere.
1899 T. Roosevelt Rough Riders v. 186 At least once a night at some irregular hour I tried to visit every part of our line, especially if it was dark and rainy.
1928 D. H. Lawrence Lady Chatterley's Lover viii. 109 The weather came rainy again. But after a day or two she went out in the rain.
1989 A. Brookner Lewis Percy ii. 19 A tan was always an asset, much prized in this rainy climate.
2. Of a period of time: during or within which rain is falling, or usually falls; (also) during which excessive rain falls. See also rainy day n. and rainy season n. at Compounds 2.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > wet weather > [adjective] > wet (of weather, place, or time) > rainy
rainyOE
rainyOE
rainingc1400
droppinga1415
pluvious?1440
rainful1484
weeping1600
droppy1635
slattering1648
dripping1699
drippy1818
softish1855
feechie1975
OE Prognostics (Tiber.) in Archiv f. das Studium der Neueren Sprachen (1908) 120 298 Kalendas Ianuarius gif he biþ on Sæternesdæg, þonne biþ..blawende lencten, & renig sumor.
lOE Prognostics (Hatton) in T. O. Cockayne Leechdoms, Wortcunning, & Starcraft (1866) III. 162 Þonne bið..windig lengten & renig sumer.
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 114v In rayny ȝeres many been beþ I-bradde.
?a1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (N.Y. Acad. Med.) f. 155 And þat þe day be quiete and bryȝt, nouȝt turble ne raynee.
1481 W. Caxton tr. Siege & Conqueste Jerusalem (1893) cciv. 299 The moneth of Iuyll, whiche is moche rayny customably in that countrey.
1555 R. Eden tr. Peter Martyr of Angleria Decades of Newe Worlde i. vi. f. 28v The fyrst day was fayre: but all the other, clowdy and rayny.
1569 T. Stocker tr. Diodorus Siculus Hist. Successors Alexander iii. xviii. 135 Lysimachus..in a foule and raynie night raysed hys Campe.
c1600 Hist. & Life James VI (1825) 355 The somer seasoun was sa raynie, that..the cornes war rottin on the grunde.
1660 T. Blount Boscobel 40 The night was very dark and rainy.
1725 E. Haywood Bath-intrigues 7 The day they chose, happen'd to be the most rainy we have had this year.
1776 E. Gibbon Decline & Fall I. x. 268 The season was rainy, and the lake Apolloniates..rose to an uncommon height.
1815 J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art II. 60 An unproductive year mostly succeeds a rainy winter.
1897 Dict. National Biogr. LI. 96/1 The dramatic sketch..which Scott wrote in two rainy mornings at Abbotsford.
1906 R. Kipling Puck of Pook's Hill 231 A rainy afternoon drove Dan and Una over to play pirates in the Little Mill.
1976 S. Wales Echo 26 Nov. 8/4 The soil under cloches is drier, so you can successfully grow crops which otherwise have a tendency to rot off during rainy spells, e.g., endive.
2007 Cornish Guardian (Nexis) 17 Jan. 8 Our visit to Eden on December 29 was memorable, in that it took place on one of the rainiest and windiest evenings of the entire year.
3.
a. Of a cloud, the sky, etc.: bringing rain; laden with rain or rainwater. Of a constellation: associated with or causing rain. Of another natural object or phenomenon: having a watery appearance or quality. Also in extended use.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > precipitation or atmospheric moisture > rain > [adjective] > causing, bringing, or connected with rain
rainyc1384
plungy?a1425
wetc1425
rainbred1582
showery1594
pluvian1799
rainful1877
rain-making1889
c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) Joel iii. 18 A welle shal go out of the hous of the Lord and shal moiste the reyny streme of thornys [a1425 L.V.: the stronde of thornes; L. torrentem spinarum].
a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) i. 692 (MED) The colour of the reyni Mone With medicine upon his face He set.
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 118v Hyades ben..reyny sterris.
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 133 Eyre..I-drawe togidre it makeþ clowdis þicke and reyny.
?a1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (N.Y. Acad. Med.) f. 135 Signez of passionz of þe erez..þai..þat takeþ fantastic sownez reynie, clarionyng, or hissing.
c1487 J. Skelton tr. Diodorus Siculus Bibliotheca Historica v. 376 Refresshynge with a grete rayny shoure which enslyderyd the ground & made it as slypper as glasse.
1513 G. Douglas in tr. Virgil Æneid vii. Prol. 27 Rany Orioune wyth his stormy face.
1563 W. Baldwin et al. Myrrour for Magistrates (new ed.) Hastings 108 As beastes forshew the drought or rayny dropps.
1604 King James VI & I Counterblaste to Tobacco sig. B4 The raynie cloudes are often transformed and euaporated in blustering winds.
1605 W. Camden Remaines i. 70 The holie Bishop of Winchester..called the Weeping saint Swithin, for that about his feast Præsepe and Aselli, rainie constellations do arise Cosmically, and commonly cause raine.
1716 J. Gay Trivia i. 11 But when the swinging signs your Ears offend With creaking Noise, then rainy Floods impend.
1750 B. Franklin Let. 13 Feb. (1987) 440 A Storm blew up at N E. and continued violent all Night and all next day, the Sky thick clouded, dark and rainy, so that neither Moon nor Stars could be seen.
1820 P. B. Shelley Prometheus Unbound i. i. 29 As rainy wind thro' the abandoned gate.
1876 C. Gibbon Robin Gray iv A white rainy mist lowered upon the water.
1916 J. Joyce Portrait of Artist v. 268 They embraced softly impelled by the grey rainy light, the wet silent trees, the shield like witnessing lake, the swans.
1989 F. Forsyth Negotiator xiv. 340 Quinn raised his glass towards the steel joists that reared into the rainy sky.
b. figurative. Of the eyes: shedding tears, full of tears. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > suffering > sorrow or grief > lamentation or expression of grief > weeping > [adjective]
weepingc900
wopi?c1225
greetingfula1340
greetyc1350
weeplyc1374
weepfula1382
weepinglyc1440
lachrymablec1450
moistc1450
lachrymous1490
rainy1563
tearfula1586
greeting1588
collachrymate1593
crying1594
onion-eyeda1616
maudlinc1616
rheumatica1627
fluxed1628
lachrymalc1630
crystal-droppinga1650
showery1654
lugent1656
Niobean1665
lachrymary1693
lachrymose1727
moist-eyed1797
larmoyant1824
pluviose1824
ploratory1831
lachrymating1837
screwmatic1847
pipy1861
weepy1863
blarting1898
leaky1905
1563 T. Sackville in W. Baldwin et al. Myrrour for Magistrates (new ed.) Buckingham xcvii With rainy eine and sighes cannot be told.
1633 P. Fletcher Piscatorie Eclogs iv. i. 19 in Purple Island Why drop thy rainie eyes?
1774 J. Adams Diary 5 Mar. (1961) II. 89 A pathetic, a Spirited Performance. A vast Croud—rainy Eyes &c.
1871 R. Ellis tr. Catullus Poems lxiii. 48 O'er the waste of ocean with a rainy eye he gazed.
1898 T. Hardy Wessex Poems 202 Then with wild rainy eyes she obeyed.
a1942 J. S. Neilson Poems (1965) 212 The rainy eyes of the children have left them sweet and fair.
2002 Times Herald (Port Huron, Mich.) (Nexis) 22 June (Religion section) 6 c He stood beside Laura and looked into those rainy eyes.
4.
a. Of a place: in which it rains or is raining; where rain is frequent; subject to rain. Of a physical object: wet with rain.
ΚΠ
a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1865) I. 333 (MED) Þe lond is nesche, reyny [L. pluviosa], and wyndy.
1578 J. Banister Hist. Man sig. B.ii v The people called Phasiani, inhabityng a marish ground and rayny region, are in figure from other men very diuers.
1681 R. Knox Hist. Relation Ceylon i. iv. 15 These leaves make their Tents to ly under in the Night. A marvelous Mercy which Almighty God hath bestowed upon this poor and naked People in this Rainy Country!
1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Georgics iii, in tr. Virgil Wks. 109 Southward to the Rainy Regions. View more context for this quotation
1748 W. Brownrigg Art Making Common Salt iii. iv. 188 In the most rainy parts of England,..fourteen inches of water may be supposed to fall during the four months above mentioned.
1766 J. Penrose Let. 31 May in Lett. from Bath (1983) 152 We can hardly hope, in your rainy corner of the Island that the Weather is more favourable.
1849 H. Melville Redburn lx. 372 I find my Italy somewhere, wherever I go. I even found it in rainy Liverpool.
1888 H. F. Reddall School-boy Life Merrie Eng. 215 In rainy England in the winter [printed writer] and early spring the chances are that rain or fog will add to the trials of a run.
1892 R. L. Stevenson & L. Osbourne Wrecker Epil. 426 The tale was half written before I saw Carthew's squad toil in the rainy cutting at South Clifton.
1916 D. H. Lawrence Amores 83 The quick leaf tore me Back to this rainy swill Of leaves and lamps and traffic.
1931 V. Woolf Waves 161 Further north, in cloudier and rainier countries, hills smoothed into slabs..had a light in them.
1974 R. Adams Shardik xxii. 168 Daubed..with rainy mud churned up by the wheels.
2008 W. D. King Collections of Nothing 49 Artists and divines, ideologues and inquisitors had for a hundred years summered at this rainy resort to pursue Protestant enlightenment.
b. Of an action or event: carried out or taking place in the rain.
ΚΠ
a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry V (1623) iv. iii. 112 Besmyrcht With raynie Marching in the painefull field.
1737 J. Byrom Jrnl. 23 Jan. in Private Jrnl. & Lit. Remains (1856) II. i. 87 A very rainy, snowy, haily, stormy, blustering ride.
1809 J. Grahame Brit. Georgics 170 In rainy harvests, when the day is dimmed With one continued shower.
1836 C. G. F. Gore Mrs. Armytage III. ii. 21 Every fifth Doncaster being invariably rainy, and the last four having been fine as Midsummer.
1872 Galaxy July 137/2 Venerable as the head was over which the victim gladly held an umbrella during their rainy walk.
1911 Times 10 June 9/2 The Canadian troops on their way to England for the Coronation were having a cold and rainy trip across the Atlantic.
1956 Daily Times-News (Burlington, N. Carolina) 25 Oct. a3/1 It was an instructive and pleasant, although rainy, trip to the mountains last weekend.
2007 Mail on Sunday (Nexis) 4 Mar. 9 This is just another 3am rainy walk home in Edinburgh after a low-cost Wednesday student night out.
Compounds
C1. With adjectives, as rainy-shimmery, rainy-sounding, rainy-wet, etc.
ΚΠ
1612 J. Davies Muses Sacrifice f. 170v (title) In rainy-gloomy Weather.
1896 A. E. Housman Shropshire Lad xxvi. 37 Overhead the aspen heaves Its rainy-sounding silver leaves.
1930 J. Dos Passos 42nd Parallel 27 Through the rail of the bridge we can look way down into the cold rainy shimmery water.
1952 R. Campbell tr. C. Baudelaire Poems 70 There the suns, rainy-wet, Through clouds rise and set.
C2. † rainy bow n. poetic Obsolete = rainbow n. 1.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > rainbow > [noun]
bowa1000
rainbowOE
heaven-bowc1390
iris1490
rainy bow1597
archa1616
bow of promise1820
1597 R. Tofte Laura ii. xxiii. sig. Cviiv Such..flowers in diuers coloured show, As makes to blush Dame Iris raynie Bow.
a1649 W. Drummond Wks. (1711) 56/2 The Seas we may not plow, Ropes make of the rainy Bow.
1776 Rainy Bow 1/1 Through and thro' the rainy bow which shines both red and green.
1822 W. Tennant Thane of Fife i. 46 Th' opal-arched bridge, the rainy bow, That knits to earth Valhalla's high abode.
1869 E. R. Bulwer Lytton Poems I. ii. 79 And of all flowers a great crowd; Whose rare-colour'd kirtles show More hues than of the rainy bow.
rainy season n. a season of high rainfall, esp. in a tropical or subtropical country; cf. dry adj. 1c.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > wet weather > [noun] > rainy season (tropical)
rains1615
rainy season1655
long rains1670
season1707
monsoon1747
high season1759
plum rains1894
wet1897
bai-u1910
kharif1920
the world > time > period > year > season > [noun] > with reference to weather conditions > rainy or hot season
heat1390
rainy season1655
wet1733
monsoon season1976
1655 E. Terry Voy. E.-India 100 Their Seed-time in May, and the beginning of June, they taking their time to dispatch all that work long before that long Rainy season comes.
1719 D. Defoe Life Robinson Crusoe 122 The rainy Season, and the dry Season, began now to appear regular to me.
1780 Philos. Trans. 1779 (Royal Soc.) 69 622 The waters which overflow and incommode low and flat countries almost every winter and rainy season, as is the case in the Dutch and Austrian Netherlands.
1872 R. G. McClellan Golden State xxii. 294 December..and the succeeding months until May are termed winter, or the ‘rainy season’, in California.
1926 Econ. Geogr. 2 86/2 The great trouble with the Mediterranean climate for agriculture is that the rainy season and the cool season coincide.
1991 Traveller Spring 10/2 Afternoon downpours can cause flash floods in the rainy season so an early start is advisable.
2003 E. Gregg & R. Trillo Rough Guide to Gambia 259 Other distinctive Gambian trees include the flame tree, stunningly florid in the rainy season.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2008; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.OE