sleet
noun
No English definition recorded for this entry.
L27106 on Wikidata ↗verb
- sleet
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /sliːt/
noun
Etymology: 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”)). The word appears to be akin to Low German Sloot (“hail”), dialectal German Schloße (“large hailstone”), Old Gutnish sloyta (“slush, sleet”). Doublet of slut.
- Pellets of ice made of mostly-frozen raindrops or refrozen melted snowflakes.
- Precipitation in the form of a mixture of rain and snow.
“Though it never really snows it’s more like horizontal sleet”
- A smooth coating of ice formed on ground or other objects by freezing rain.
- The part of a mortar extending from the chamber to the trunnions.
verb
Etymology: 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”)). The word appears to be akin to Low German Sloot (“hail”), dialectal German Schloße (“large hailstone”), Old Gutnish sloyta (“slush, sleet”). Doublet of slut.
- To be in a state in which sleet is falling.
“I won't bother going out until it's stopped sleeting.”
“It was dark, it was cold, it was sleeting - dreadful conditions for driving... perfect conditions for an accident.”