Wiktionary

sleet

English edit

 
A small amount of slush can be produced from a mixture of rain and snow

Etymology edit

From Middle English slete, probably from Old English *slēte, *slȳte, *slīete, from Proto-West Germanic *slautijā, from Proto-Germanic *slautijǭ (“sleet”). Walter W. Skeat, the author of Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, suggests Old Norse slydda (whence Danish slud (“mixture of rain and snow”)).[1] The word appears to be akin to Low German Sloot (“hail”), dialectal German Schloße (“large hailstone”), Old Gutnish sloyta (“slush, sleet”).

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

sleet (countable and uncountable, plural sleets)

  1. (chiefly US) Pellets of ice made of mostly frozen raindrops or refrozen melted snowflakes.
    Synonym: ice pellets
  2. (chiefly UK, Ireland, Northeastern US) Precipitation in the form of a mixture of rain and snow.
  3. (rare) A smooth coating of ice formed on ground or other objects by freezing rain.
    Synonyms: black ice, glaze
  4. (firearms) Part of a mortar extending from the chamber to the trunnions.

Derived terms edit

Translations edit

See also edit

References edit

Verb edit

sleet (third-person singular simple present sleets, present participle sleeting, simple past and past participle sleeted)

  1. (impersonal, of the weather) To be in a state in which sleet is falling.
    I won't bother going out until it's stopped sleeting.
    • 2021 February 24, Greg Morse, “Great Heck: a tragic chain of events”, in RAIL, number 925, page 38:
      It was dark, it was cold, it was sleeting - dreadful conditions for driving... perfect conditions for an accident.

Translations edit

References edit

  1. ^ Skeat (in German) considers the English word “sleet” to be a loanword from Scandinavia and cites the Norwegian word “sletta.”

Further reading edit

Anagrams edit

Dutch edit

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

sleet c (uncountable)

  1. (chiefly Belgium) wear

Synonyms edit

Verb edit

sleet

  1. singular past indicative of slijten
  2. inflection of sleeën:
    1. second/third-person singular present indicative
    2. (archaic) plural imperative

Anagrams edit

Middle English edit

Noun edit

sleet

  1. Alternative form of slete
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