hurricane
Part of speech: noun
verb
Morphological type: simple
Topics: climatology
meteorology
natural-sciences
Etymology: Etymology tree
Taíno *hurakābor.
Spanish huracánbor.
English hurricane
Borrowed from Spanish huracán, ultimately from Taíno *hurakā.
Inflected forms:
form: hurricanes
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: hero-cane
pos: noun
tags: alternative
form: hurrican
pos: noun
tags: alternative
form: hurricanes
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: hurricaning
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: hurricaned
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: hurricaned
pos: verb
tags: past
form: hero-cane
pos: verb
tags: alternative
form: hurrican
pos: verb
tags: alternative
Senses:
gloss: A severe tropical cyclone; an intense storm rotating around a central eye.
pos: noun
examples: Whole villages have been leveled by the hurricane.
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.
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 […]
gloss: 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.
pos: noun
examples: Near-synonyms: typhoon, cyclone
Janice was a tropical depression 10 days ago, a tropical storm 5 days ago, and a hurricane yesterday and today.
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.
gloss: A great forceful onrush.
pos: noun
tags: figuratively
examples: [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.
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.
gloss: A sweet alcoholic drink made with rum, lemon juice (or sometimes other fruit juice), and either passion fruit syrup or fassionola.
pos: noun
gloss: To be violent, with winds of 119 km/h (74 miles per hour) or greater, usually accompanied by rain, lightning, and thunder.
pos: verb
tags: ambitransitive
examples: Through the night it rained, hurricaned; sashes rattled; the chimney smoked; a lobby-door was ajar, and kept banging to and fro.
So I got inside my 'possum-skin—it hurricaned an' snowed— And I started for the Deepot, and lit out for his abode.
I guess it did storm. I guess it hurricaned.
He is substituting for Rudy Black, who is our Resource Manager, who was hurricaned out of an appearance today because he could not get back from vacation.
gloss: To move noisily, quickly, and dramatically, becoming the center of attention.
pos: verb
examples: While thus employed, Mrs. Winthrop hurricaned into the room, and having received explanations, hurricaned forth again to tell her husband how dreadfully thoughtless his arrangement was, since Frank would have to take Miss Allenby into dinner.
They must have told him I was ready for visitors; he hurricaned into the room, slung a chair away from the wall and banged it down next to the bed.
The Super nodded wisely, 'I agree, constable. See to it, Forbes!' and with that hurricaned out.
Angela Stripe was a force of nature. Bold and brave and brassy in a warm way, she never breezed in, she hurricaned.
gloss: To attempt to accomplish a great deal with a frenzied effort.
pos: verb
examples: There were still spots on the mirror I had cleaned and tiny bits of newspaper were stuck in its edges where I had hurricaned through in my initial cleaning frenzy.
"A clean home is a good home," she'd say as she hurricaned from room to room with vacuum cleaner and feather duster, hands gauntleted in Marigolds.
Lara was running in and out of shops, her brain buzzing, ticking off items as she hurricaned through open doors to the sound of jingle bells and fifties crooners.
gloss: To swirl quickly and violently.
pos: verb
examples: A whole swirl of turnarounds hurricaned from him.
Kona responded as air hurricaned out of the bay and water rushed in.
Like a cadaver dog, she latched onto his scent again and when it hurricaned around in her cerebral fluids with those dirty, honest, direct thoughts on capturing her lover, she couldn't stop herself from taking aggressive action.
gloss: To tear apart in a violent, destructive, and/or chaotic manner.
pos: verb
examples: Urganda, hurricaned with violent perturbation of mind commences the fourth act; and, after a soliloquy, or rather incantation, raises a dæmon of revenge;
My personal life has been hurricaned in the last month, not by the war particularly, but by having to decide not to “live in sin” after trying it for a few days.
Sharon gratefully assumed I'd hurricaned my last kitchen with my flour-tossing talents.
And within the Soviet Union itself, it is said that some of its underdeveloped territories were hurricaned by revolutionary dynamics from a feudal to a socialist structure.
The other girls whispered to us 'He's hurricaning the room.'
Though Tafolla has always addressed the themes of suffering, persevering, and surviving within her expansive body of work, many of her writings exploring what she refers to as that "hurricaned" time period of cancer, the mastectomy, her role as a “cancer veteran," and the "Trinity of Deaths" remain in stacks of papers and handwritten journals, polished but percolating patiently along with some of her unfinished works—her scurrying utterances found clutched to the edges of crumple receipts, scratched onto torn envelopes, and etched into the surfaces of folders, book covers, and small boxes piling up on top of her desk.
gloss: To cause an uproar.
pos: verb
examples: What do they therefore but quickly get themselves into a body, and fall forthwith to hurricaning in Mansoul, as if now nothing but whirlwind and tempest should be there.
It blew open. It hurricaned onto shore.
gloss: To storm excessivly; to fume and rage violently.
pos: verb
examples: He rang for the cook, and stormed and hurricaned and cycloned at her until the rain-clouds burst, and she wept.
gloss: To chase violently or rush after and force along.
pos: verb
examples: As he hurricaned toward her, she turned and ran to the drop-off place.
Then they would all be in a confused clutter and cluster there, and there would be a mad stampede when The Black Watch hurricaned on their heels from behind, and several bags, boxes and barrels, if not virtually all, would fall in their wild rush for The Pra, their wounded and sick abandoned in a blood filled litter and sprawl over the raging sands.
Was there a sudden general strike, perhaps, sweeping up the doctors and nurses as it hurricaned upon them?
I'll get swirled up in it. Tornadoed. Hurricaned.
The One Stop clerk, a college student named Abel Langtry, gawked at the car chase as it hurricaned past in the rain.
Related words: anticyclone
wind
Derived words: blizzicane
fish hurricane
Hurricane Alley
hurricane bow
hurricane chaser
hurricane deck
hurricane glass
hurricane hunter
hurricane lamp
hurricane lantern
hurricanelike
hurricane lily
hurricane party
hurricaneproof
hurricane tide
hurricanic
hurriquake
hypercane
hyperhurricane
Irish hurricane
Irishman's hurricane
medicane
Paddy's hurricane
posthurricane
prehurricane
snowicane
superhurricane
tornadocane
Translations: