squall en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- (Southern-England) audio
- /ˈskwɔːl/
Etymology
From Middle English *squalen and squelen (“to cry, scream, squall”), from Old Norse skvala (“to cry out”), probably ultimately imitative with influence from squeal and bawl. Cognate with Swedish skvala (“to gush, pour down”), Norwegian skval (“sudden rush of water”). The noun is probably from the verb.
Meanings
-
(often) A sudden storm, as found in a squall line.
With reports of the Japanese forces bearing down on them confirmed, Rear Admiral Sprague orders his ships east, heading towards a series of rain squalls, hoping for concealment. This will hopefully delay the Japanese closing the range, and also draw them away from the much-more-vulnerable landing ships.
2019 February 27, Drachinifel, 10:57 from the start, in The Battle of Samar - Odds? What are those?, archived from the original on 03 Nov 2022:Luckily she wasn’t there any more, no one was, when he returned from the Caribbean carnival damp-hatted and soaked through after being caught unprepared by a squall of hard, hot rain.
2001, Salman Rushdie, Fury: A Novel, London: Jonathan Cape, →ISBN, page 5:
- A squall line, multicell line, or part of a squall line.
-
A loud cry or wail.
The media present rising prices as a passing squall for the middle class, brought on by Vlad ’n’ Liz and resulting in spiking mortgage rates and fewer trips to Waitrose. But beneath those headlines are millions of others for whom the problem isn’t rising prices, but falling incomes.
2023 August 17, Aditya Chakrabortty, “Can’t pay and they really do take it away: what happens when the bailiffs come knocking”, in The Guardian:But the third Emir, now seeing himself all alone on the quarter-deck, seems to feel relieved from some curious restraint; for, tipping all sorts of knowing winks in all sorts of directions, and kicking off his shoes, he strikes into a sharp but noiseless squall of a hornpipe right over the Grand Turk’s head; and then, by a dexterous sleight, pitching his cap up into the mizentop for a shelf, he goes down rollicking so far at least as he remains visible from the deck, reversing all other processions, by bringing up the rear with music.
1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 34, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 163:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| squalls | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Deriveds
white squall · thundersquall · squallery · squallish · snow squall · black squall · rainsquall
Descendants
skwala · szkwał · шквал · шквал
Translations (42)
ru шквал (sudden storm, as found in a squall line) · it burrasca (sudden storm, as found in a squall line) · sv stormby (sudden storm, as found in a squall line) · lt umaras (sudden storm, as found in a squall line) · bg шквал (sudden storm, as found in a squall line) · sgs bongs (sudden storm, as found in a squall line) · sv kastby (sudden storm, as found in a squall line) · cmn 颮 /飑 (sudden storm, as found in a squall line) · mi rōpu (sudden storm, as found in a squall line) · fi kuuropuuska (sudden storm, as found in a squall line) · mi pōua (sudden storm, as found in a squall line) · fi ukkoskuuro (sudden storm, as found in a squall line) · it bufera (sudden storm, as found in a squall line) · lt škvalas (sudden storm, as found in a squall line) · es tormenta (sudden storm, as found in a squall line) · nv ayéhé néidíníyódí (sudden storm, as found in a squall line) · mi pōkākā (sudden storm, as found in a squall line) · el ριπαίος άνεμος (sudden storm, as found in a squall line) · pt lufada (sudden storm, as found in a squall line) · es borrasca (sudden storm, as found in a squall line) · ga osóg (sudden storm, as found in a squall line) · sgs bongts (sudden storm, as found in a squall line) · ca tamborinada (sudden storm, as found in a squall line) · fr grain (sudden storm, as found in a squall line) · grc καταιγίς (sudden storm, as found in a squall line) · cs húlava (sudden storm, as found in a squall line) · ka შკვალი (sudden storm, as found in a squall line) · eo burasko (sudden storm, as found in a squall line) · mi māwake rangitahi (sudden storm, as found in a squall line) · nl windstoot (sudden storm, as found in a squall line) · ota بورا (sudden storm, as found in a squall line) · pt borrasca (sudden storm, as found in a squall line) · mi rorohū (sudden storm, as found in a squall line) · pt tormenta (sudden storm, as found in a squall line) · fi tuulenpuuska (sudden storm, as found in a squall line) · is él (sudden storm, as found in a squall line) · fr bourrasque (sudden storm, as found in a squall line) · id sendalu (sudden storm, as found in a squall line) · de Sturmböe (sudden storm, as found in a squall line) · ka ქარბუქი (sudden storm, as found in a squall line) · de Böe (sudden storm, as found in a squall line) · pl szkwał (sudden storm, as found in a squall line)