different between heather vs weather

English

Alternative forms

• hadder (dialectal)
• hether, hather (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English hather, hathir, from Old English *h?ddre and h?þ (“heather”), cognate with Scots hedder, hadder, heddir (“heather”), Saterland Frisian Heede (“heather”), West Frisian heide (“heather”), Dutch heide (“heather”), German Low German Heide, Heid (“heather”), German Heide (“heather”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?h?ð?/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?h?ð?/
• Rhymes: -?ð?(?)
• Hyphenation: heath?er

Noun

heather (countable and uncountable, plural heathers)

1. (botany) An evergreen plant, Calluna vulgaris, with spiky leaves and small purple, pink, or white flowers.
2. (botany) The Ericaceae family.
3. (botany) Various species of the genus Erica.
4. (botany) Various species of the genus Cassiope.
5. A purple colour with a tint of pink and blue.

6. (textiles) The use of interwoven yarns of mixed colours to produce flecks.

Synonyms

• (Calluna vulgaris): ling

Related terms

• heath

Derived terms

See also

• Appendix:Colors

Further reading

• heather on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Ericaceae on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• Ericaceae on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons

Translations

Adjective

heather (not comparable)

1. Of a purple colour with a tint with pink and blue.

Anagrams

• heareth

English

Etymology

From Middle English weder, wedir, from Old English weder, from Proto-Germanic *wedr?, from Proto-Indo-European *wed?rom (=*we-d?rom), from *h?weh?- (“to blow”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Weeder, West Frisian waar, Dutch weer, Low German Weder, German Wetter, Danish vejr, Swedish väder, Norwegian Bokmål vær, Norwegian Nynorsk vêr, Icelandic veður; also more distantly related to Russian ????? (vjódro, “fair weather”) and perhaps Albanian vrëndë (“light rain”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?w?ð?/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?w?ð?/
• Rhymes: -?ð?(r)
• Homophones: wether, whether (in accents with the wine-whine merger)
• Hyphenation: wea?ther

Noun

weather (countable and uncountable, plural weathers)

1. The short term state of the atmosphere at a specific time and place, including the temperature, relative humidity, cloud cover, precipitation, wind, etc.

2. Unpleasant or destructive atmospheric conditions, and their effects.

3. (nautical) The direction from which the wind is blowing; used attributively to indicate the windward side.
   • 1851, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick, ch. 3:

     One complained of a bad cold in his head, upon which Jonah mixed him a pitch-like potion of gin and molasses, which he swore was a sovereign cure for all colds and catarrhs whatsoever, never mind of how long standing, or whether caught off the coast of Labrador, or on the weather side of an ice-island.

4. (countable, figuratively) A situation.
5. (obsolete) A storm; a tempest.

   • What gusts of weather from that gathering cloud / My thoughts presage!

6. (obsolete) A light shower of rain.

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

Synonyms

• (state of the atmosphere): meteorology
• (windward side): weatherboard

Hyponyms

• dirty weather
• space weather

Derived terms

Translations

Adjective

weather (not comparable)

1. (sailing, geology) Facing towards the flow of a fluid, usually air.

   weather side, weather helm

Synonyms

• (nautical) windward

Antonyms

• (nautical, geology) lee

Verb

weather (third-person singular simple present weathers, present participle weathering, simple past and past participle weathered)

1. To expose to the weather, or show the effects of such exposure, or to withstand such effects.
   • 1856, Hugh Miller, The Cruise of the Betsey

     The organisms […] seem indestructible, while the hard matrix in which they are embedded has weathered from around them.
2. (by extension) To sustain the trying effect of; to bear up against and overcome; to endure; to resist.
   • April 18, 1850, Frederick William Robertson, An Address Delivered to the Members of the Working Man's Institute

     You will weather the difficulties yet.

3. To break down, of rocks and other materials, under the effects of exposure to rain, sunlight, temperature, and air.
4. (nautical) To pass to windward in a vessel, especially to beat 'round.

5. (nautical) To endure or survive an event or action without undue damage.

6. (falconry) To place (a hawk) unhooded in the open air.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Encyc. Brit to this entry?)

Derived terms

• overweather
• unweather
• weather the storm

Translations

Anagrams

• weareth, whate'er, whereat, wreathe