shower
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: shou'ər
ipa: /ˈʃaʊ.ə(ɹ)/
enpr: shou'ər
ipa: /ˈʃaʊ.ɚ/
rhymes: -aʊ.ə(ɹ)
rhymes: -aʊə(ɹ)
Forms: form: showers
Etymology: From Middle English schour, from Old English sċūr, from Proto-West Germanic *skūru, from Proto-Germanic *skūrō, probably from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ḱēwer- (“north; north wind; cold wind; rain shower”). Cognate with Dutch schoer, German Schauer, Old Norse skúr, Norwegian Bokmål skur, Swedish skur, Danish skur, Russian север (sever).
Senses: examples: text: Today there will be frequent showers and some sunny spells.
text: They are wet with the showres of the mountaines, and imbrace the rocke for want of a shelter.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Job 24:8:
text: Occasionally, the sun pierces the clouds like a searchlight to illuminate a feature such as a farm, copse or stream, before being overwhelmed by an advancing shower. Wordsworth would have loved it!
ref: 2022 November 2, Paul Bigland, “New trains, old trains, and splendid scenery”, in RAIL, number 969, page 57:
glosses: A brief fall of precipitation (spell of rain, or a similar fall of snow, sleet, or cascade); burst of hefty precipitation.
synonyms: shower bath
glosses: A device for bathing by which water is made to fall on the body from a height, either from a tank or by the action of a pump.
examples: raw_tags: UK, Australia
text: I’m going to have a shower.
raw_tags: especially US
text: I’m going to take a shower.
synonyms: shower bath
glosses: An instance of using of this device in order to bathe oneself.
examples: text: a shower of sparks;  a meteor shower;  a Gatorade shower
text: The lights of Luluabourg disappeared, and we were in the blackness of the African night, which was continuously pierced by the showers of red sparks ejected skywards and red hot ashes deposited on the track as the fireman rocked his fire.
ref: 1958 February 24, Arthur F. Beckenham, “A Journey in the Belgian Congo”, in Railway Magazine, page 93:
glosses: A quantity of something that has characteristics of a rain shower.
examples: text: Would male strippers be appropriate for the divorce shower?
text: Her church group has planned an adoption shower.
glosses: A party associated with a significant event in a person's life, at which the person usually receives gifts.
examples: text: The shower will be held at the home of the bridesmaid.
glosses: A party associated with a significant event in a person's life, at which the person usually receives gifts.
A bridal shower.
examples: text: Her friends are throwing her a shower after her mom leaves.
glosses: A party associated with a significant event in a person's life, at which the person usually receives gifts.
A baby shower.
examples: See also shower (juggling) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
topics: arts
hobbies
juggling
lifestyle
performing-arts
sports
glosses: A pattern where the juggler passes objects horizontally from one hand to the other around chest height, and upward over the juggler's head to return to the first hand.
examples: text: With this I maye be sure to come sauf / and goo sauf / and that the quene shal haue her lyberte as she had before / and neuer for no thynge that hath ben surmysed afore this tyme / she neuer fro this day stande in no peryll / for els sayd sir launcelot I dare auenture me to kepe her from an harder shoure than euer I kepte her
ref: 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, “xiiij”, in Le Morte Darthur, book XX:
glosses: A battle, an attack; conflict.
examples: text: You all behaved like a shower, now you are to be treated like a shower
ref: 1956, Private's Progress (motion picture)
glosses: A shower of shit.
examples: text: It was one of the worst feelings in the H-Block, one of the worst experiences to sit and listen to somebody getting beat. Because you were totally powerless, and you would always get somebody shouting at the door, “You shower of bastards!” It was always a crowd of screws and one or two naked men in a cell. They had total control.
ref: 1991, Allen Feldman, Formations of Violence: The Narrative of the Body and Political Terror in Northern Ireland, University of Chicago Press, →ISBN, page 208, →ISBN:
qualifier: with of and an invective
glosses: Used as an intensifying pluralizer or intensifier
examples: text: But when I tweeted it out, most of the responses (from the more than one million viewers) were along the lines of: 'what do you expect from this shower?
ref: 2023 October 18, Christian Wolmar, “The back of a fag packet used for unworkable rail plans”, in RAIL, number 994, page 45:
glosses: A group of people perceived as incompetent or worthless.