zephyr
Part of speech: noun
verb
Morphological type: simple
Etymology: From Latin zephyrus (“west wind”), from Ancient Greek Ζέφυρος (Zéphuros). Doublet of zefir, zéphire, Zephyr, and Zephyrus. The confectionery sense is a semantic loan from Russian зефи́р (zefír).
Inflected forms:
form: zephyrs
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: zephir
pos: noun
tags: alternative
archaic
form: zephyrs
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: zephyring
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: zephyred
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: zephyred
pos: verb
tags: past
form: zephir
pos: verb
tags: alternative
archaic
Senses:
gloss: A light wind from the west.
pos: noun
examples: The Western [winds] have been Counted the mildest, & most Auspicious of all others; and were so highly in favour with the Poets, that they thought them worthy of the Golden Age, and to refresh the Elysian groves. [...] But though the Breathing Zephyrs are so much celebrated in Poems and Romances, and happily were kinder to the delicious countries of Italy, & Greece, yet wee find no lesse malignity in their natures from particular accidents and climats, then what wee have observ’d of other Winds.
gloss: Any light refreshing wind; a gentle breeze.
pos: noun
examples: O thou Goddeſſe, / Thou diuine Nature; thou^([sic – meaning how]) thy ſelfe thou blazon'ſt / In theſe two Princely Boyes: they are as gentle / As Zephires blowing below the Violet, / Not wagging his ſweet head; [...]
The eaſterly or trade winds, which generally blow between the Tropics, are extremely refreſhing to the coaſt of Guiana, between the hours of eight or ten in the morning, and ſix o'clock in the evening, when they ceaſe to operate, and a zephyr is ſcarcely ever heard to whiſper during the night.
The dusk of evening came on, soft in its solemnity, and unoppressive even in its gloom, under the sweet sky and unmolested zephyr, casting its pleasant shadows along the edges of the grove.
It [a house] stood on a sharp bleak corner, where that tempestuous wind Euroclydon kept up a worse howling than ever it did about poor Paul's tossed craft. Euroclydon, nevertheless, is a mighty pleasant zephyr to any one in-doors, with his feet on the hob quietly toasting for bed.
gloss: Anything of fine, soft, or light quality, especially fabric.
pos: noun
examples: The world hummed and spun about him. There was a whirling of zephyr skirts, four impassioned faces sweeping towards the open door of the passage that ran through the vicarage. He felt his position went with them.
gloss: A type of soft confectionery made by whipping fruit and berry purée (mostly apple purée) with sugar and egg whites with subsequent addition of a gelling agent like pectin, carrageenan, agar, or gelatine.
pos: noun
examples: In 1953 the Russian Republic Ministry of the Food Products Industry increased confectionery output 10% above 1952, including wrapped and packaged confectionery 46%, chocolates 57%, toffee 65%, fruit preserves, pastilles and Zephyrs 20% and halva—by 36%.
The French not only vastly expanded the Russian repertory of sauces, but they also introduced an entirely new range of light, airy desserts including creams, zephyrs, and mousses.
For desserts there were “airy pie,” charlottes, mousses, kissel, plombir and “zephyrs.”
2 tablespoons beet juice (optional—include it if you’re nostalgic for pink zephyr)
The Russian zephyr and bird’s milk fillings rely on agar as a gelling agent
When the zephyrs are firm to the touch, press the two zephyr halves together and roll in powdered sugar.
Stick 2 zephyrs together at the base and dust thoroughly with icing sugar using a sieve.
gloss: To blow or move like a zephyr, or light breeze.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
poetic
examples: There was a time
When the soft zephyring spring came joyfully,
Like a young bride, with bloom upon her cheek—
There was a sudden scrambling and thumping overhead and hot exclamations zephyred down to them.
But there was a new afflation— / An aura zephyring round, / That care infected not: [...]
gloss: To blow or blow on gently like a zephyr; to cool or refresh with a gentle breeze.
pos: verb
tags: poetic
transitive
examples: 1849, letter from Leonidas Lent Hamline dated 15 December, 1849, in Walter Clark Palmer, Life and Letters of Leonidas L. Hamline, D.D., New York: Carlton & Porter, 1866, Chapter 15, p. 361,
He was a fragrant poison, a zephyred pestilence spread through all the city.
1914, Leonard Lanson Cline, untitled sonnet in Poems, Boston: The Poet Lore Company, p. 76,
Ah, but the skies are joyous in the spring,
From dawn to dusk exuberantly blue;
White-tufted oftentimes with clouds that do
But wanton in heaven’s zephyred merrying!
1914, Juliane Paulsen (pseudonym of Juliane Grace Hansen), “Poppy Fantasy” in And Then Came Spring, Boston: The Gorham Press, p. 49,
Oh, graciously she led my soul within
Where ever and forever went a wind
In zephyred streams of poppies coursing sweet
About the place, and waves of poppy heat
About us there.
Derived words: zephyr cloth
zephyrean
zephyrian
zephyr lily
Zephyrosaurus
zephyrous
zephyr shawl
zephyr worsted
zephyr yarn
Translations: