Definitions

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

  • noun Any of the chemical or mechanical processes by which objects exposed to the weather are worn or broken down.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Weather, especially favorable or fair weather.
  • noun In geology, etc., the action of the elements in changing the color, texture, or composition of rock, in rounding off its edges, or gradually disintegrating it.
  • noun In architecture, a slight inclination given to an approximately horizontal surface to enable it to throw off water.

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

  • noun (Geol.) The action of the elements on a rock in altering its color, texture, or composition, or in rounding off its edges.

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

  • noun obsolete Weather, especially favourable or fair weather.
  • noun geology Mechanical or chemical breaking down of rocks in situ by weather or other causes.
  • noun architecture A slight inclination given to an approximately horizontal surface to enable it to throw off water.
  • verb Present participle of weather.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English wederyng, equivalent to weather +‎ -ing.

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Examples

  • I wish you well in weathering this storm and can only hope that things will quiet back down after tomorrow.

    EMERGENCY!!! Suspend the Debates! 2008

  • Her 1981 publication Practicing History: Selected Essays was a retrospective of her essays that she identified as weathering the tests of time.

    Barbara W. Tuchman. 2009

  • In order to have a better understanding of how a material performs over time, scientists usually perform both long-term weathering in natural environments and a series of performance tests to determine when and how a material fails.

    Netvouz - new bookmarks 2009

  • I'm heavily involved in all aspects of the broader project, but my own interests really lie with rocks-the aquifer system that is flowing underneath North Pond, and what kind of intraterrestrial microbes might colonize rock, inhabiting the nooks and crannies of volcanic basalt and catalyzing reactions that result in "weathering" - like what you can see on old buildings, roads and rock outcrops on the continents.

    Scientific American 2009

  • Although designed only for short trading missions up and down rivers and along China’s coast, the junk succeeded in weathering the storm and eventually passed into calmer waters.

    The Romance of China: Excursions to China in U.S. Culture: 1776-1876 2005

  • [Image: "Coupons" of metal tested for their long-term weathering and resilience; courtesy of the

    Worldchanging: Bright Green 2009

  • This crumbling we generally call weathering, and regard it as due to the effect of moisture and cold upon the rocks, together with the oxidizing action of the air.

    The Story of Germ Life

  • The mountain, however, showed now on the port bow; so, the ship must necessarily have run down a considerable portion of the western coast, after they had abandoned the idea of weathering the island on the port tack -- which they had done as soon as they were alarmed by the sound of breakers, letting her drive to leeward -- before the collision with the berg.

    The Wreck of the Nancy Bell Cast Away on Kerguelen Land 1887

  • CarbFix's designers, in effect, are radically speeding up the natural process called weathering, in which weak carbonic acid in rainwater transforms rock minerals over geologic time scales.

    The Seattle Times 2011

  • However, as we were so near the S.E. end of it, and as the least shift of wind, in our favour, would serve to carry us round, I did not wholly give up the idea of weathering it, and therefore continued to ply.

    A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume 16 Robert Kerr 1784

  • Some geoengineering ideas, like crushing rocks and dispersing the dust to absorb CO2 from the air — a practice known as “enhanced weathering” — are already being tried.

    Can $500 Million Save This Glacier? By 2024

Comments

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  • "Many younger African-Americans in their 20s, 30s and 40s are living and dying with chronic conditions that we more typically see in the older population," Cunningham says. "There's still work to do."

    That finding is consistent with previous reports that indicate some black Americans experience a phenomenon known as "weathering." That's when a person develops signs of premature aging and an earlier deterioration in health, the report notes.

    Weathering can be caused by a variety of factors, including living in poverty, living in violent neighborhoods and encountering racism on a regular basis, Betancourt says.

    "Racism and experiencing racism — thinking about your race every day — contributes to this weathering effect," he says. "You're in fight-or-flight mode. That has a real significant biological effect that contributes to premature aging."

    Death Rate Among Black Americans Declines, Especially For Elderly People, All Things Considered (NPR), May 2, 2017

    May 4, 2017