simoom
English edit
Etymology edit
From Arabic سَمُوم (samūm, “hot wind”), from سَمَّ (samma, “to poison”).
Pronunciation edit
- (Received Pronunciation, US) enPR: sĭmo͞omʹ; IPA(key): /sɪˈmuːm/
Audio (Southern England) (file) - Rhymes: -uːm
Noun edit
simoom (plural simooms)
- A hot, dry, suffocating, dust-laden wind of the desert, particularly of Arabia, Syria, and neighboring countries, generated by the extreme heat of the parched deserts or sandy plains.
- 1892, James Yoxall, chapter 5, in The Lonely Pyramid:
- The desert storm was riding in its strength; the travellers lay beneath the mastery of the fell simoom. Whirling wreaths and columns of burning wind, rushed around and over them.
- 1916, James Joyce, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Macmillan Press Ltd, paperback, page 101:
- Stephen's heart had withered up like a flower of the desert that feels the simoom coming from afar.
Translations edit
hot, dry wind
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