Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The north wind: commonly so called in the Mediterranean. The name is also given to a peculiar cold and blighting wind, very hurtful in the Archipelago.

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

  • noun (Meteor.) A dry, cold, violent, northerly wind of the Adriatic.

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

  • noun A dry, cold north wind in Italy and adjacent Mediterranean areas.

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

  • noun a cold dry wind that blows south out of the mountains into Italy and the western Mediterranean

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Italian tramontana

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Examples

  • The two pulsated and flared in the Santa Ana winds that must be something like the hot tramontana land wind of Spain that Gabriel Garcia Marquez says "carries with it the seeds of madness."

    Can Los Angeles Escaped The Fires? 2008

  • In a doorway of a great house, in one of the narrow streets, a little boy of eight was crouching behind one of the stone pillars as he tried to keep out of the grip of the tramontana.

    Knights of Art; stories of the Italian painters Amy Steedman

  • The tramontana, that keen wind which blows from over the snow mountains, was sweeping down the narrow streets, searching out every nook and corner with its icy breath.

    Knights of Art; stories of the Italian painters Amy Steedman

  • The tramontana, that keen wind which blows from over the snow mountains, was sweeping down the narrow streets, searching out every nook and corner with its icy breath.

    Knights of Art: Stories of the Italian Painters 1907

  • In a doorway of a great house, in one of the narrow streets, a little boy of eight was crouching behind one of the stone pillars as he tried to keep out of the grip of the tramontana.

    Knights of Art: Stories of the Italian Painters 1907

  • So we have been dragging in by inches our chairs and tables throughout the summer, and by no means look finished and furnished at this late moment, the slow Italians coming at the heels of our slowest intentions with the putting up of our curtains, which begin to be necessary in this November tramontana.

    The Letters of Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1 of 2) 1907

  • When the tramontana blew, he was comfortable enough.

    The Life and Genius of Nathaniel Hawthorne Stearns, Frank P 1906

  • But the climate of Rome was considered by Dr Gresonowsky more suitable for winter, and towards the close of November they took their departure, flying from the Florentine tramontana.

    Robert Browning Dowden, Edward 1904

  • For one thing the hill was swathed in mists, it rained at intervals, a kind of bitter _tramontana_ was blowing.

    A Tramp's Notebook Morley Roberts 1899

  • So we have been dragging in by inches our chairs and tables throughout the summer, and by no means look finished and furnished at this late moment, the slow Italians coming at the heels of our slowest intentions with the putting up of our curtains, which begin to be necessary in this November tramontana.

    The Letters of Elizabeth Barrett Browning Kenyon, Frederic G 1898

Comments

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  • Perdere la tramontana (To lose one's tramontana), in Italian, means "to lose one's bearings".

    December 26, 2008

  • "The north wind: commonly so called in the Mediterranean. The name is also given to a peculiar cold and blighting wind, very hurtful in the Archipelago."

    --Century Dictionary

    January 25, 2011

  • Hey! I just added that comment yesterday--now tramontana just showed up in Master and Commander. That's iroqouisy.

    January 27, 2011

  • Is it in far western Montana or near eastern Idaho ( ex-tra Montana)?

    *noted it isn't called trans-Montana, (as in mountain passes) in passing*

    January 27, 2011