rainfalln.
/ˈreɪnfɔːl/, U.S. /ˈreɪnˌfɔl/, /ˈreɪnˌfɑl/ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > light > firework > [noun] > that forms a shower of sparks
golden rain1629
gold rain1635
cascade1749
rainfall1765
peacock's tail1799
golden shower1839
1765 R. Jones New Treat. Artific. Fireworks iv. 141 (heading) Of rain-falls for sky rockets, double and single.
2.
a. Falling rain; the occurrence of this; fallen rain, rainwater.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > precipitation or atmospheric moisture > rain > [noun] > a or the fall of rain
wetec897
rainsOE
raindropc1400
wetc1440
onfall1803
rainfall1817
rainfall1855
1817 H. Clarke & J. Dougall Cabinet of Arts i. 52 If the stem be raised 1, 2, 3 inches, or so, the depth of rain fall on a foot square, will, by 1/ 9, 2/ 9, 3/ 9, &c. of an inch.
1819 W. Branch Life iii. 202 The soothing rain-fall drown'd my little woes.
1850 Times 3 June 8/4 We deemed it desirable to cause the consumption of water..to be gauged from..the run through house-drains and sewers on days when there was no rainfall.
1862 D. T. Ansted & R. G. Latham Channel Islands iv. xx. 470 The rain-fall, part of which is immediately re-evaporated.
1871 G. Barlow Poems & Sonnets i. 107 Like a summer night Just after rainfall, rich with fragrant dews.
1925 W. Cather Professor's House i. ix. 102 After breakfast he went out to walk in the soft rainfall.
1949 E. L. Hamilton & P. B. Rowe Rainfall Interception by Chaparral in Calif. 6 Throughfall is that portion of the rainfall which reaches the ground directly through the vegetative canopy.
1970 R. J. Small Study of Landforms ii. 30 Mud-flows occur in mountain areas after heavy rainfall.
2005 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 1 Dec. 45/2 They were able to control the leaching and other damaging effects of heavy rainfall..by planting fruit and nut trees.
b. As a count noun: a fall or shower of rain; a period of rain; an amount of rainwater from such a fall or falls. Also in extended use.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > precipitation or atmospheric moisture > rain > [noun] > a or the fall of rain
wetec897
rainsOE
raindropc1400
wetc1440
onfall1803
rainfall1817
rainfall1855
1855 M. F. Maury Physical Geogr. Sea §283 On the Pacific [Aleutian] islands there is an uninterrupted rain-fall during the entire winter.
1858 C. Kingsley Andromeda 15 Pawing the spray into gems, till a fiery rainfall, unharming, Sparkled and gleamed.
1858 Jrnl. Soc. Arts 6 103/1 Every one of the sewers would have storm overflows to convey heavy rain-falls to the Thames.
1884 Manch. Examiner 6 June 4/6 Early in the game there was a smart rainfall.
c1911 C. L. Biden in S. Playne Cape Col. 618 The Namaqualand marigold..seems to spring up in a single night, and the veld that was parched and dry a few days before the rainfalls resembles one continuous Persian carpet.
1949 W. F. Albright Archaeol. Palestine 50 The cold phases are called ‘glacial periods’ in northern latitudes and ‘pluvial periods’ in the latitude of Palestine, where there was no glaciation, but instead a greatly increased rainfall.
1992 A. Gore Earth in Balance v. 100 Groundwater makes up most of what [fresh water] remains, leaving less than .01 percent for all lakes, creeks, streams, rivers, and rainfalls.
3. Meteorology. The quantity of rain that falls in a certain period within a given region or at a particular place, usually expressed as inches or millimetres of rainwater per year.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > precipitation or atmospheric moisture > rain > [noun] > quantity of rain falling
rainfall1850
1850 N. Beardmore (title) Hydraulic tables..with synopsis of rain-fall in Great Britain.
1860 M. F. Maury Physical Geogr. Sea (ed. 8) v. §282 Rain-gauges will give us the mean annual rain-fall.
1861 Littell's Living Age 22 June 758/1 In 1858, the rain-fall at Melbourne was twenty-three and one-half inches.
1880 C. R. Markham Peruvian Bark 282 There is one arid region, with a normal rainfall of less than fifteen inches.
1931 E. Maxwell Afforestation in Southern Lands xxxix. 175 The Insignis thrives well under widely different degrees of rainfall.
1976 D. Steila Geogr. Soils xi. 151 The most extensive areal development of the oxic horizon may have taken place under paleo-climates of much higher rainfall.
2005 J. Diamond Collapse (2006) iv. 140 One strategy was to live at higher elevations where rainfall was higher.
Compounds
General attributive.
ΚΠ
1865 B. Latham Papers Upon Supply of Water to Towns 6 (heading) Rainfall Tables.
1868 Symons's Meteorol. Mag. 3 204 Rainfall Registration.
1869 Symons's Meteorol. Mag. 4 133 Report of the Rainfall Committee.
1899 North-Western Advocate (Devonport) 4 Jan. 4/1 The crops within Goyder's rainfall line are good.
1904 Daily Chron. 12 May 4/7 It is satisfactory to find the rainfall account for the metropolitan area coming nearer to the normal.
1959 Dict. National Biogr. 1941–50 592/2 He improved the collection, discussion, and orderly presentation of rainfall data.
1977 C. McCullough Thorn Birds iii. 68 A typical settlement on the very edge of the Back of Beyond, a last outpost in a steadily diminishing rainfall belt.
1983 M. Cook Muhammad i. 7 Even the rainfall agriculture of the Yemen was derisory by comparison with what could be achieved across the Red Sea in Ethiopia.
1990 W. R. Tarboton in Fauna & Flora No. 47. 1 The highest rainfall areas support ‘mistbelt’ type evergreen forests.
2006 Weekly Times (Austral.) (Nexis) 13 Sept. (Focus section) 28 The way rainfall statistics are calculated is important.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2008; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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