Dictionary

blustery en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈblʌstəɹi/ (General-American)

Etymology

Etymology tree English bluster Proto-Indo-European *-kos Proto-Germanic *-gaz Proto-West Germanic *-g Old English -iġ Middle English -y English -y English blustery From bluster + -y.

Meanings

1. Blowing in loud and abrupt bursts.
   • He wished fleetingly that he could once more be out in the open, as when he was a boy—never in the house, but the sound of the blustery wind frightened him. 1957, Bernard Malamud, chapter 1, in The Assistant, New York: Farrar, Straus and Cudahy, page 8:
   • Fortunately, that May morning was bright and sunny; the breeze blew warm from the southland instead of cold and blustery from the lake, and it was the very best kind of a morning possible for being out of doors. 1920, Clara Ingram Judson, “Lost—One Doll Cart”, in Mary Jane’s City Home, New York: Barse & Hopkins, page 117:
   • Currently, there are blustery winds blowing in Patagonia.
2. Accompanied by strong wind.
   • In the small hours of a blustery October morning in a south Devon coastal town that seemed to have been deserted by its inhabitants, Magnus Pym got out of his elderly country taxicab and, having paid the driver and waited till he had left, struck out across the church square. 1986, John le Carré, A Perfect Spy:
   • The drizzle became blustery rain as she approached Curracloe. 1999, Colm Tóibín, The Blackwater Lightship, New York: Scribner, page 88:
   • Blustery cold out. […] The wind nipped at my ears, and it threatened to blow my carefully styled hair out of place, so I ducked my head down low and walked quickly, […] 2024, Lily Seabrooke, Fire and Ice, chapter 34
   • […] blustery winters with little snow, when the whole country is stripped bare and gray as sheet-iron. 1918, Willa Cather, My Ántonia, Introduction:
   • Today is such a cold blustery day!
3. (of a person) Pompous or arrogant, especially in one's speech; given to outbursts.
   • Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continued this week to use a blustery “we will go it alone if we must” rhetoric publicly. 2024 May 9, Howard LaFranchi, “Historic Israeli desire to ‘go it alone’ is tested by Gaza and Iran”, in The Christian Science Monitor:
   • Vayu was a large, strong, blustery character, full of drive and energy but mercurial in temperament. 1989, Shashi Tharoor, chapter 22, in The Great Indian Novel, New York: Arcade, published 2011:
   • Uncle Miles wished only to dodge the issue that had hurled them apart, offering an effusive and blustery hospitality as an alternative to the air-clearing discussion which the situation so urgently called for. 1937, Lloyd C. Douglas, chapter 16, in Forgive Us Our Trespasses, London: Peter Davies, page 290:
   • Duke Wilhelm […] seems to have been of a headlong, blustery, uncertain disposition; much tossed about in the controversies of his day. 1858, Thomas Carlyle, History of Friedrich II of Prussia, London: Chapman and Hall, Volume 1, Book 3, Chapter 12, pp. 295-296:
   • He talks in a rather loud, blustery way and has a nervous, irritable manner. 1930, Dashiell Hammett, chapter 1, in The Maltese Falcon, New York: Knopf:

Forms

Deriveds

blusteriness · unblustery

Relateds

blusterous · blustering

Synonyms

stormy · tempestuous · breezy · blusterous · blusterous · blowy · swaggering · squally · windy · blustering · gusty · blusterous

Translations (18)

es tormentoso (blowing in loud and abrupt bursts) · de stürmisch (accompanied by strong wind) · fi puuskainen (blowing in loud and abrupt bursts) · mi titipārerarera (blowing in loud and abrupt bursts) · fi kovatuulinen (accompanied by strong wind) · es tempestuoso (blowing in loud and abrupt bursts) · mi titipārera (blowing in loud and abrupt bursts) · pt tempestuoso (blowing in loud and abrupt bursts) · es de mucho viento (accompanied by strong wind) · ga stamhlaí (blowing in loud and abrupt bursts) · de böig (blowing in loud and abrupt bursts) · fr tumultueux (blowing in loud and abrupt bursts) · fr bruyant (blowing in loud and abrupt bursts) · nl luidruchtig (blowing in loud and abrupt bursts) · es ventoso (blowing in loud and abrupt bursts) · mi tarakaka (blowing in loud and abrupt bursts) · mi tītitipārerarera (blowing in loud and abrupt bursts) · nl rumoerig (blowing in loud and abrupt bursts)