shower
/ˈʃaʊə
/noun
1A brief and usually light fall of rain, hail, sleet, or snow: a day of sunny spells and scattered showers...
- It was very cold with light snow showers, sleet and rain, but the pitch, despite being heavy, was in remarkably good condition.
- Frequently within just a few minutes, sunshine, heavy rain showers and hail storms occurred.
- This would often bring showers of snow or rain, and sometime hail.
Synonyms
fall, light fall, drizzle, flurry, sprinkling, mizzle;
downpour, deluge
1.1A mass of small things falling or moving at the same time: a shower of dust sprinkled his face...
- A shower of glass fell over Leon large head, and his eyes turned white, falling deeply unconscious.
- It was not unusual then to see a shower of swirling blossoms fall softly on the hair of many a beautiful girl as she made her way to the dancing board.
- I know I can have my breath taken away by a shower of color falling from the sky.
Synonyms
volley, cascade, hail, rain, storm, salvo, bombardment, barrage, fusillade, broadside, cannonade
1.2A group of particles produced by a cosmic-ray particle in the earth’s atmosphere.More unusual applications are to topics such as the theory of cosmic ray showers....
- The cosmic dust detector recorded two micrometeoroid showers in September and December.
- Because most meteors in a shower are tiny, there is little threat to spacecraft, and virtually none to people on the ground.
2A cubicle or bath in which a person stands under a spray of water to wash: all rooms have private shower and WC...
- A tall slim black headed woman stood in the shower washing herself off after her day of work.
- Its white suite includes a bath with overhead electric shower and a wash hand basin with vanity unit.
- Volunteers are asked to provide a spare room, a warm evening meal, a shower or bath, clean clothes, and facilities to wash their clothes.
2.1The apparatus in a shower that produces the spray of water: she turned off the shower and reached for a towel...
- The unfortunate victim tries to warm up the icy cold water by adding more and more hot water, until the hot water finally reaches the shower head.
- He sighed and turned off the shower, reaching for the towel his steward left next to the door.
- So, I sat on the edge of the bath, swung my legs over the side, switched on the taps and reached for the shower head.
2.2 (US also shower bath) An act of washing oneself in a shower: she had a nice refreshing shower...
- Have a cool shower bath or a sponge bath when the temperature is high.
- Watched by hundreds of devotees, the ritual would begin at 11.30 a.m. with a grand shower bath for all the 51 elephants.
- Moisturizers also fill in and fortify gaps between skin cells caused by overzealous washing or hot showers.
3A large number of things happening or given at the same time: a shower of awards...
- As my mom drove me home, after an embarrassing shower of kisses at the bus station, she chattered on and on about how boring her life was without me.
- While I had kept him at a distance during his shower of offers, Ken considered me a friend.
- What followed was a near riot and a shower of bottles, plastic seats and several other pieces of debris heading his way.
Synonyms
avalanche, deluge, rush, flood, spate, torrent, cluster, flurry, wave, outbreak, outpouring;
profusion, abundance, plethora, superabundance, glut;
large number, large quantity, mass
3.1 [often with modifier] North American A party at which presents are given to someone, typically a woman who is about to get married or have a baby: she loved going to baby showers...
- Will the mother-to-be know of the party, or will you be having a surprise baby shower?
- To make the party more momentous, you can make a surprise baby shower for the guest of honor.
- But soon after Jay was shot, she put her dream baby shower on hold.
4 [in singular] British informal A group of people perceived as incompetent or worthless: look at this lot—what a shower!
verb
1 [no object, with adverbial of direction] (Of a mass of small things) fall or be thrown in a shower: bits of broken glass showered over me...
- This shattered the glass pane that showered and cut the two women.
- It was an innocent query posed as a sea of coloured confetti showered down on to the Parkhead pitch.
- Glass showered onto her, cutting her face and arms.
Synonyms
rain, fall, drizzle, spray, mizzle, hail
1.1 [with object and adverbial of direction] Cause (a mass of small things) to fall in a shower: his hooves showered sparks across the concrete floor...
- The heavy rain which had showered the course for 36 hours finally relented for the third round and left the fearsome Bethpage Black course more receptive to below-par scoring.
- If you could get a kite's eye view of this place, dotting the scene would be these intense spots of orange or blue flame, showering sparks about.
- Little Kara McLaughlin suffered severe burns to her face and left hand when a firework in her garden exploded, showering her in hot sparks.
1.2 [with object] (shower someone with) Throw (a number of things) all at once towards someone: hooligans showered him with rotten eggs...
- Subsequently, the witnesses said, Rhodes allegedly showered her with pepper spray, threw her against the wall, kneed her in the head as she knelt on the ground and struck her head on the ground while holding her hair.
- People were thrown onto the coach ceiling and the shattering windows showered them with broken glass.
2 [with object] (shower someone with) Give someone a great number of (things): he showered her with kisses...
- In other words, if you got money, just sit still and you will be showered with more.
- Akra Jr frequently showers Li'l Bhaji with hugs and kisses, delights in getting his little brother to giggle at him.
- Russo, who played treacherous Carlo in ‘The Godfather,’ will be seen in ‘Growing Up Gotti’ tonight, showering Victoria with roses, chocolates and even an impromptu love song in a crowded restaurant.
Synonyms
deluge, flood, inundate, swamp, submerge, engulf, bury;
overwhelm, saturate, glut, overload, beset, overburden, snow under
2.1 (shower something on/upon) Give a great number of things to (someone): senior officers showered praise on their young policewomen...
- The sane people of the world saw it purely as a piece of comic genius, and showered awards upon the badly-drawn comedy.
- After 1247, however, Henry began showering favours upon his half-brothers, the sons of his mother, Isabella of Angouleme.
- By showering favours on Elizabeth's relatives, Edward began to build up a faction to counter Warwick.
Synonyms
lavish, pour, load, heap, bestow freely;
give freely, give generously;
waste, squander
informal blow
3 [no object] Wash oneself in a shower: she showered and went down to breakfast...
- Water for basic household tasks like washing, showering and toilet facilities proved impossible when the taps in more than 200 households suddenly went dry.
- I cleaned and scrubbed, washed and purified, showered and bathed and sponged and splashed.
- Apply an emollient cream or ointment after washing, bathing or showering and between baths or showers, as often as necessary.
Phrases
send someone to the showers
I (or he, she, etc.) didn't come down in the last shower
Origin
Old English scūr 'light fall of rain, hail, etc.', of Germanic origin; related to Dutch schoer and German Schauer.