hurricane
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: hŭr′ĭ-kən
enpr: hŭr′ĭ-kān'
ipa: /ˈhʌɹɪkən/
ipa: /ˈhʌɹɪkeɪn/
note: without the hurry–furry merger
enpr: hŭr′ĭ-kān'
ipa: /ˈhʌɹɪkeɪn/
note: without the hurry–furry merger
note: General American, Canada, hurry–furry merger
enpr: hûr′ǐ-kān'
ipa: /ˈhɝɪkeɪn/
note: General American, Canada, hurry–furry merger
Forms: form: hurricanes
form: hero-cane
form: hurrican
Etymology: Etymology tree
Taíno *hurakābor.
Spanish huracánbor.
English hurricane
Borrowed from Spanish huracán, ultimately from Taíno *hurakā.
Senses: examples: text: THE HURRICANE OF AUGUST 1831. Calamitous as were the many eruptions of nature by which this island [Barbados] had suffered, the aggregate destruction produced by them was probably unequal to that effected by the storm of August 1831. That of 1675, according to the description given in history, very much resembled it in appearance, duration, and fury; but the extent to which human life was sacrificed is not on record. Although many persons then perished, it is reasonable to suppose that the numbers bore no proportion to those whose loss this mourning island now deplores. The hurricane of 1780, fearfully tremendous as it was, is admitted by all living witnesses to have been far much inferior in force, and less destructive to the country ; but its protracted continuance served to effect the damage then occasioned. […] Captain Charles Cooper, of the mail-boat schooner Friends, on his arrival from Trinidad, Grenada, and St. Vincent's, reported, that on the 23rd of June he had experienced a tremendous gale five leagues to the southward of Grenada. It continued without intermission for five hours, during the whole of which time the vessel was hove nearly on her beam ends. Captain J.MᶜGregor, of His Majesty's 1st or Royal Regiment, and other passengers were on board, and every one, as well as the master and crew, expected to have been entombed by the foaming ocean. At Grenada the gale was described as more severe than any that had been experienced since the hurricane of 1780. At an early hour in the morning "the sea became considerably agitated, and sent forth a noise, which, contrasted with the stillness of the atmosphere, inspired a strange and unaccountable feeling." The morning dawned with a heavy and perturbed sky, but it was not until near noon that the hurricane commenced. Between 3 and 4 in the afternoon the tempest had attained its height, after which it gradually moderated. The damage inflicted on the country was severely felt, but with one exception there was no loss of life.
ref: 1831, Account of the Fatal Hurricane, by which Barbados Suffered in August 1831: To Which is Prefixed a Succinct Narrative of the Convulsions of the Elements, Which at Several Times Have Visited and Injured the West Indian Islands, Bridgetown, Barbados: Samuel Hyde, pages 29-31:
text: Without going over the ground so well occupied by those able writers on the subject of storms — Redfield, Reid, Piddington, and Thom—it will be quite sufficient for our present purpose simply to notice the essential phænomena of revolving storms as manifested by the barometer and vane. The usual indications of a storm in connexion with these instruments are the falling of the barometer and the freshening of the wind, and it is generally considered that a rapid fall of the mercury in the hurricane regions invariably precedes the setting in of a storm. There are three classes of phænomena that present themselves to an observer, according as he is situated on the line or axis of translation, or in either the right or left hand semicircle of the storm. These will be rendered very apparent by a little attention to the annexed engraving, fig. 1. In this figure the arrow-head is supposed to be directed true north, and the hurricane—as is the case in the American storms north of the 30th parallel—to be moving towards the N.E. on the line N.E.–S.W. If the ship take the hurricane with the wind S.E.,— the letters within the two larger circles indicating the direction of the wind in the storm according to the rotation as shown by the circle of arrow-heads […]
ref: 1850, William Radcliffe Birt, “Phænomena of revolving storms”, in The Hurricane Guide: Being an Attempt to Connect the Rotatory Gale Or Revolving Storm with Atmospheric Waves. Including Instructions for Observing the Phænomena of the Waves and Storms ; with Practical Directions for Avoiding the Centres of the Latter, London, England: John Murray, Publisher to the Admiralty, pages 8-9:
glosses: A severe tropical cyclone; an intense storm rotating around a central eye.
examples: text: Near-synonyms: typhoon, cyclone
text: Janice was a tropical depression 10 days ago, a tropical storm 5 days ago, and a hurricane yesterday and today.
text: An extreme version of vorticity is a vortex. The vortex is a spinning, cyclonic mass of fluid, which can be observed in the rotation of water going down a drain, as well as in smoke rings, tornados and hurricanes.
ref: 2013 March 24, Frank Fish, George Lauder, “Not Just Going with the Flow”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 2, archived from the original on 01 May 2013, page 114:
topics: climatology
meteorology
natural-sciences
hypernyms: tropical cyclone
<
cyclone
storm#Noun
coordinate_terms: word: tropical depression
english: both milder
translation: both milder
word: tropical storm
glosses: A severe tropical cyclone in the North Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, or in the eastern North Pacific off the west coast of Mexico, with winds of 119 km/h (74 miles per hour) or greater accompanied by rain, lightning, and thunder that sometimes moves into temperate latitudes.
raw_tags: in particular
examples: text: [A]fter all thoſe Hurricans of Fury and Violence are novv blovvn over, vve enjoy a ſerene Air, and the happy quiet vvhich vve had ſo much long'd for.
ref: 1687, L[ucius] C[aecilius] F[irmianus] Lactantius, translated by Gilbert Burnet, A Relation of the Death of the Primitive Persecutors. […], Amsterdam: […] J[ohn] S[tarkey], →OCLC, paragraph I, page 56:
text: A movement of women who wanted to win greater rights had to be able to move forward against a hurricane of lesbian-baiting from the political establishment of the Cold War capitalists.
ref: 2006 February 5, Leslie Feinberg, “Lesbian organizing and 'red feminism'”, in Workers World:
glosses: A great forceful onrush.
qualifier: cocktails
glosses: A sweet alcoholic drink made with rum, lemon juice (or sometimes other fruit juice), and either passion fruit syrup or fassionola.
Coordinate terms: sense: type of a cyclone
word: cyclone
sense: type of a cyclone
word: tropical storm
sense: type of a cyclone
word: typhoon
topics: meteorology
climatology
natural-sciences
word: breeze
topics: meteorology
climatology
natural-sciences
word: gale
topics: meteorology
climatology
natural-sciences
word: storm
Derived terms: blizzicane
fish hurricane
Hurricane Alley
hurricane bow
hurricane chaser
hurricane deck
hurricane glass
hurricane hunter
hurricane lamp
hurricane lantern
hurricanelike
hurricane party
hurricaneproof
hurricane tide
hurricanic
hurriquake
hypercane
hyperhurricane
Irish hurricane
Irishman's hurricane
medicane
Paddy's hurricane
posthurricane
prehurricane
snowicane
superhurricane
tornadocane
Related terms: anticyclone
wind