rainbow
/ˈreɪnbəʊ
/- Their blossoms can be either single, double, or semi-double, and come in nearly every color of the rainbow except blue and green.
- All of a sudden, the sky cleared, became blue and a perfect rainbow arched over me with one end in the sand.
- A rainbow arched over the far wing in between showers of rain and bursts of sunshine.
- Stained glass windows splayed sunlight in multicolored, non-sense rainbows over the rich Persian rugs thrown to either side of the ruby highway.
- He paused, watching the rainbows of refracted light from it sparkle on the shelves and walls, an expression of almost reverent awe on his face.
- There was a time when the better players had balls with a wide variety of pin positions, allowing a rainbow of reactions.
- It's home to the more unusual sea apples - cucumbers that sprout a rainbow of filter-feeding arms - as well as colourful toxic sea urchins.
- He will be back with a rainbow of programmes for this creative crowd.
- In their diversity and variety, they encompass various coalescing and opposing interests and ideas to give them a many-coloured rainbow splendour.
- I saw my first puffins, a flock swimming in the sea, small birds with big triangular rainbow beaks that look as if they're held on with elastic, like clown noses.
- The first time I went to Thailand, I got these rainbow beads.
Phrases
at the end of the rainbow
chase rainbows (or a rainbow)
Origin
Old English regnboga (see rain, bow1).
bow from Old English:
The bow of a ship has nothing to do with a person bowing in respect or a support bowing under pressure. The nautical bow (early 17th century) is in fact related to bough (Old English), the limb of a tree. Its immediate source, in the later Middle Ages, was German or Dutch. The phrase a shot across the bows, ‘a warning statement or gesture’, has its origins in the world of naval warfare, where it is one which is not intended to hit, but to make ships stop or alter their course. See also buxom. The archer's bow and the act of bending, both Old English, are related and come from Germanic roots. The archer's bow got its name from the shape, which also appears in Old English rainbow and elbow (Old English). The first part of the latter gives us the old measurement the ell, a variable measure, originally the distance from elbow to fingertip, which comes from the Indo-European root that also gives us ulna (mid 16th century) for the bone that runs from elbow to wrist.