different between breeze vs meander

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /b?i?z/
• Rhymes: -i?z

Etymology 1

From the earlier (nautical) term brise, brize (“breeze”), from Middle English brees (“wind”). Ultimate origin obscure.

Variously supposed to derive from a Germanic source like Saterland Frisian Briese (“breeze”), West Frisian brys (“a cool wind”), Dutch bries (“breeze”), early Dutch brysen (“to blow cool and fresh”), or from Spanish brisa (“northeast wind”).

The earliest attestations are in Middle English brees (1460), Catalan brisa, and Italian brezza (all in 15th century), with Spanish (1504) and Portuguese briza (16th century) following closely after. The aforementioned Dutch cognates and French brise, however, are attested later than the term in English. The only internal hypothesis for any of those languages is a corruption of Old Occitan bisa (“strong wind”), which is not widely accepted.

Compare also Albanian breshër (“hail”).

Alternative forms

• brize (obsolete)
• briess (obsolete)

Noun

breeze (plural breezes)

1. A light, gentle wind.
   • 1793, William Wordsworth, An Evening Walk

     Into a gradual calm the breezes sink.

   • Breezes blowing from beds of iris quickened her breath with their perfume; she saw the tufted lilacs sway in the wind, and the streamers of mauve-tinted wistaria swinging, all a-glisten with golden bees; she saw a crimson cardinal winging through the foliage, and amorous tanagers flashing like scarlet flames athwart the pines.

2. (figuratively) Any activity that is easy, not testing or difficult.

3. (cricket) Wind blowing across a cricket match, whatever its strength.
4. Ashes and residue of coal or charcoal, usually from a furnace. See Wikipedia article on Clinker.
5. An excited or ruffled state of feeling; a flurry of excitement; a disturbance; a quarrel.

6. A brief workout for a racehorse.

Synonyms

• see also Thesaurus:wind
• cakewalk, cinch, doddle, piece of cake, walk in the park, walkover; see also Thesaurus:easy thing

Coordinate terms

• (gentle wind): gale, hurricane, storm

Derived terms

• breezen

Translations

See also

• breeze block
• Wikipedia article on the Beaufort scale

Verb

breeze (third-person singular simple present breezes, present participle breezing, simple past and past participle breezed) (intransitive)

1. (usually with along) To move casually, in a carefree manner.
2. (weather) To blow gently.
3. To take a horse on a light run in order to understand the running characteristics of the horse and to observe it while under motion.

Translations

References

Etymology 2

From Middle English brese, from Old English br?osa, variant of Old English brimsa (“gadfly”), from Proto-Germanic *bremus? (“gadfly”), from Proto-Indo-European *b?erem- (“to make a noise, buzz, hum”). Cognate with Dutch brems (“horsefly, warblefly”), German Bremse (“gadfly, horsefly”), Danish bremse (“gadfly, horsefly”), Swedish broms (“gadfly, horsefly”). Related also to Middle English brimse (“gadfly”), French brize (“gadfly”), Old English bremman (“to rage, roar”), Latin frem? (“roar, snort, growl, grumble”). See also bream.

Alternative forms

• breese
• brize

Noun

breeze (plural breezes)

1. A gadfly; a horsefly; a strong-bodied dipterous insect of the family Tabanidae.

Verb

breeze (third-person singular simple present breezes, present participle breezing, simple past and past participle breezed)

1. (intransitive) To buzz.

Anagrams

• beezer

English

Alternative forms

• mæander (archaic)

Etymology

From Latin Maeander, from Ancient Greek ????????? (Maíandros) – a river in Asia Minor (present day Turkey) known for its winding course. (Turkish Büyük Menderes Nehri)

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /mi?ænd?(?)/
• (US) IPA^(key): /mi?ænd?/

Noun

meander (plural meanders)

1. One of the turns of a winding, crooked, or involved course.
   • 1712, Sir Richard Blackmore, "Creation: A Philosophical Poem":

     See, how the streams advancing to the main, / Through crooked channels draw their crystal train! / While lingering thus they in meanders glide, / They scatter verdant life on either side.

2. A tortuous or intricate movement.
3. (geography) one of a series of regular sinuous curves, bends, loops, turns, or windings in the channel of a river, stream, or other watercourse
4. Fretwork.
5. Perplexity.
6. Synonym of Greek key, a decorative border.
7. (mathematics) A self-avoiding closed curve which intersects a line a number of times.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

meander (third-person singular simple present meanders, present participle meandering, simple past and past participle meandered)

1. (intransitive) To wind or turn in a course or passage; to be intricate.
2. (transitive) To wind, turn, or twist; to make flexuous.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Dryton to this entry?)

Translations

Further reading

• meander on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Büyük Menderes River on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

References

• The Chambers Dictionary (1998)

Anagrams

• Merenda, amender, enarmed, reamend, reedman, renamed

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Latin Maeander, from Ancient Greek ????????? (Maíandros)

Noun

meander m (definite singular meanderen, indefinite plural meandere or meandre or meandrer, definite plural meanderne or meandrene)

1. a meander (in a river)

Derived terms

• meandersjø
• meandrere

References

• “meander” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
• “meander” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Latin Maeander, from Ancient Greek ????????? (Maíandros)

Noun

meander m (definite singular meanderen, indefinite plural meandrar, definite plural meandrane)

1. a meander (in a river)

Derived terms

• meandersjø

References

• “meander” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Polish

Etymology

From German Mäander, from Latin Maeander, from Ancient Greek ????????? (Maíandros) – a river in Asia Minor (present day Turkey) known for its winding course.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /m??an.d?r/

Noun

meander m inan

1. meander (one of a series of regular sinuous curves, bends, loops, turns, or windings in the channel of a river, stream, or other watercourse)

   Synonym: zakole

2. meander, meandros (decorative border constructed from a continuous line, shaped into a repeated motif)

Declension

Derived terms

• (adjectives) meandrowy, meandryczny, meandrowaty
• (nouns) meandryczno??
• (verb) meandrowa?

Further reading

• meander in Wielki s?ownik j?zyka polskiego, Instytut J?zyka Polskiego PAN
• meander in Polish dictionaries at PWN