Definitions
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Alternative spelling of
simoom .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a violent hot sand-laden wind on the deserts of Arabia and North Africa
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word simoon.
Examples
-
I kept my eyes fixed on the window, but the wolf drew his head back, and a whole myriad of little specks seems to come blowing in through the broken window, and wheeling and circling round like the pillar of dust that travellers describe when there is a simoon in the desert.
Dracula 2003
-
It is of old a native of the East, sister of the tornado, the earthquake, and the simoon.
The Last Man 2003
-
We will arrive in June, after the simoon, a suffocating wind that blows across the desert.
Tales of Passion, Tales of Woe Sandra Gulland 2000
-
We will arrive in June, after the simoon, a suffocating wind that blows across the desert.
Tales of Passion, Tales of Woe Sandra Gulland 2000
-
The simoon of shot and shell was over, and men and women and children crawled from their caves into the light of day.
The Land We Live In The Story of Our Country Henry Mann
-
Grace found herself wondering if the Arabian simoon, of which she had read, could possibly be deadlier.
Grace Harlowe's Overland Riders on the Great American Desert Jessie Graham [pseud.] Flower
-
What is celebrated is the first of the hot simoon winds which last fifty days, and apparently the day for their commencement is most accurately gauged.
The Incomparable 29th and the "River Clyde" George Davidson
-
This matter of sand falling seems to suggest conventional explanation enough, or that a simoon, heavily charged with terrestrial sand, had obscured the sun, but Mr. Murray, who says that he had had experience with simoons, gives his opinion that "it cannot have been a simoon."
The Book of the Damned Charles Fort
-
As I wuz asayin 'along we went like fury, ther simoon chasing arter us.
Jack Wright and His Electric Stage; or, Leagued Against the James Boys
-
Public and private opinion wilted before the simoon of calamitous report.
Hidden Treasures Or, Why Some Succeed While Others Fail Harry A. Lewis
chained_bear commented on the word simoon
"'Doctor,' he said, as Stephen and Martin came aboard, having handed up box after box of coral and shells, and as the hawser crept out from the Niobe's bows, carried by the long-boat through the crowd of Arab dhows and djerms, 'we are half-promised an Egyptian wind.'
"'Would that be the same as the dread simoon?'
"'I dare say,' said Jack. 'I have heard it is most uncommon hot, even for these parts. But the great point is that it is westerly, and even a little north of westerly, and so long as it comes abaft the beam, it may blow as hot as it pleases.'"
--Patrick O'Brian, Treason's Harbour, 175
February 19, 2008
reesetee commented on the word simoon
Another word for sionnach's winds of the world. :-)
February 19, 2008
yarb commented on the word simoon
Is this the same as the simoom?
February 20, 2008
reesetee commented on the word simoon
WeirdNet seems to think so. :-) (Apologies, bilby--I'd forgotten that you also have a "wind" list.)
February 20, 2008
chained_bear commented on the word simoon
Interestingly--though I was called away in mid-comment--this word is definitely simoon in the text I cited. I looked, however, in the O'Brian lexicon (when I was called away because my dog had done something vile, for only the fifth time that day), and in that book, it reads simoom. So yeah. I guess it's the same. I don't know if it counts as a misspelling or not, though--it's in print, and it was reprinted a number of times (not facsimile editions), and as with many foreign words, it's possible that it's spelled more than one way.
February 20, 2008
yarb commented on the word simoon
I'm sure it's a variant rather than a mis-spelling. I do prefer simoom, though - sounds sandier.
February 20, 2008
chained_bear commented on the word simoon
It does. And it sounds hotter too.
February 20, 2008
jaime_d commented on the word simoon
"a simoon in a long Finnish corridor. . ." Gilbert Adair translation of Georges Perec's La Disparition
August 11, 2010