Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A hot humid south or southeast wind of southern Italy, Sicily, and the Mediterranean islands, originating in the Sahara Desert as a dry dusty wind but becoming moist as it passes over the Mediterranean.
  • noun A hot or warm southerly wind, especially one moving toward a low barometric pressure center.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The Italian name for a southeast wind.
  • noun A name for a special drying apparatus using a heated blast of air derived from a fan, and blowing over the material to be dried, as fruit, or tea-leaves.
  • noun A trade-name for a form of fan-blower.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun An oppressive, relaxing wind from the Libyan deserts, chiefly experienced in Italy, Malta, and Sicily.
  • noun In general, any hot dry wind of cyclonic origin, blowing from arid or heated regions, including the desert wind of Southern California, the harmattan of the west coasts of Africa, the hot winds of Kansas and Texas, the kamsin of Egypt, the leste of the Madeira Islands, and the leveche of Spain.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A hot southerly to southeasterly wind on the Mediterranean that originates in the Sahara and adjacent North African regions.
  • noun A draft of hot air from an artificial source of heat.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a windstorm that lifts up clouds of dust or sand

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Italian scirocco, from Arabic šarq, east; see śrq in Semitic roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Italian scirocco = the south-east wind; (from Arabic)

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Examples

  • We had encountered that blasting wind known as the "sirocco" -- the scourge of the Mediterranean -- which after gathering force and heat in the African deserts comes with its fiery and sand-laden breath to sap the moisture from all who have not the natures of salamanders.

    In Eastern Seas Or, the Commission of H.M.S. 'Iron Duke,' flag-ship in China, 1878-83 J. J. Smith

  • It is susceptible to hot, dry, dust-laden southern wind called the sirocco or "ghibli" which lasts one to four days in spring and fall; and, from dust storms and sandstorms.

    Libya 2009

  • The word sirocco does not occur in his pages save once, when he laments its prevalence on the mainland. "

    South Wind Norman Douglas 1910

  • The sirocco is the same, year after year, although there is a kind of conspiracy among the foreign residents to say that it happens to be worse than usual that particular season.

    South Wind Norman Douglas 1910

  • There is a wind in southern Europe called the sirocco, known in Berdych's Czech Republic as the jugo.

    The Championships, Wimbledon 2010 - Grand Slam Tennis - Official Site by IBM 2010

  • Climate: Arid to semiarid; mild, wet winters with hot, dry summers along coast; drier with cold winters and hot summers on high plateau; a hot, dust / sand-laden wind called sirocco is especially common in summer.

    unknown title 2009

  • Climate: Arid to semiarid; mild, wet winters with hot, dry summers along coast; drier with cold winters and hot summers on high plateau; a hot, dust / sand-laden wind called sirocco is especially common in summer.

    unknown title 2009

  • Climate: Arid to semiarid; mild, wet winters with hot, dry summers along coast; drier with cold winters and hot summers on high plateau; a hot, dust / sand-laden wind called sirocco is especially common in summer.

    unknown title 2009

  • Climate: Arid to semiarid; mild, wet winters with hot, dry summers along coast; drier with cold winters and hot summers on high plateau; a hot, dust / sand-laden wind called sirocco is especially common in summer.

    unknown title 2009

  • At one time, and particularly on my first emergence from my prison, there was certainly a cold wind blowing down the shaft, and later there was a kind of sirocco upward that corresponded with my fever.

    First Men in the Moon Herbert George 2006

Comments

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  • In Italian, scirocco.

    June 6, 2008