sleetn.1
/sliːt/, U.S. /slit/ 1. in extended use.1667 J. Dryden Annus Mirabilis 1666 clxxxvi. 47 The midmost Battels,..Who view, far off, the storm of falling Sleet, And hear their thunder ratling in the wind.1671 J. Milton Paradise Regain'd iii. 323 He saw..How quick they wheel'd, and..shot Sharp sleet of arrowie shower[s] against the face Of thir pursuers. View more context for this quotation
a. Snow which has been partially thawed by falling through an atmosphere of a temperature a little above freezing-point, usually accompanied by rain or snow.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > precipitation or atmospheric moisture > snow > [noun] > sleet
sleetc1300
c1300 Land of Cokayne 39 in Early Eng. Poems & Lives Saints (1862) 157 Þer n'is dunnir, slete, no hawle.
c1385 G. Chaucer Legend Good Women Dido. 1220 Doun cam the reyn with hayl & slet so faste.
c1400 (?c1390) Sir Gawain & Green Knight (1940) l. 729 Ner slayn wyth þe slete he sleped in his yrnes.
a1500 (a1460) Towneley Plays (1994) I. xiii. 129 Now in snaw, now in slete, When my shone freys to my fete.
1533 J. Bellenden tr. Livy Hist. Rome (1901) I. ii. xxvi. 236 Incontinent fell sa hevy tempest with slete and snawis out of þe are, þat he was empeschet.
1553–4 in J. Lamb Coll. Lett. Corpus Christi Coll., Cambr. (1838) 228 On Sonday frost and som slyte.
1635 J. Swan Speculum Mundi v. §2. 162 We have sometimes sleet, which is snow and rain together.
1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Georgics iii, in tr. Virgil Wks. 113 Perpetual Sleet, and driving Snow, Obscure the Skies. View more context for this quotation
1704 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 24 1695 Some slite in the night.
1785 W. Cowper Task v. 140 Arrowy sleet, Skin-piercing volley, blossom-bruising hail.
1856 A. P. Stanley Sinai & Palestine ix. 331 A tremendous storm of sleet and hail gathered from the east.
1871 B. Jowett in tr. Plato Dialogues II. 73 The philosopher standing aside in the shower of sleet under a wall.
b. A storm or shower of sleet. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > precipitation or atmospheric moisture > snow > [noun] > sleet > shower or storm of sleet
sleet1728
sleet-gust1928
1728 J. Thomson Spring 2 Winter..bids his driving Sleets Deform the Day delightless.
1880 W. Newton Serm. for Boys & Girls (1882) 225 A sleet had fallen the day before and the pavements were very slippery.
2. attributive, as sleet air, sleet blast, sleet-flake, sleet-gust, sleet-shower, sleet storm, etc.; sleet-bound adj.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > precipitation or atmospheric moisture > snow > [adjective] > characterized by sleet > beaten upon or covered by > covered or blocked by
sleet-bound1782
the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > precipitation or atmospheric moisture > snow > [noun] > sleet > shower or storm of sleet
sleet1728
sleet-gust1928
1782 J. Trumbull MʽFingal (new ed.) iii. 65 He glitter'd to the western ray Like sleet-bound trees in wintry skies.
1832 J. Wilson Noctes Ambrosianae lx, in Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Feb. 259 The Wellington Arms is by no means an uncomfortable howf in a sleet-squash.
1866 E. P. Whipple Character & Characteristic Men 34 The sharp sleet air is invigorating.
1877 Daily News 27 Dec. 6/1 The Russians are there, out in the sleet blasts.
1888 J. A. Lees & W. J. Clutterbuck B.C. 1887: Ramble in Brit. Columbia (1892) xxiv. 266 The cold dark clouds..burst upon us in a furious sleet storm.
1888 J. A. Lees & W. J. Clutterbuck B.C. 1887: Ramble in Brit. Columbia xxix. 327 In a blinding sleet-shower.
1928 E. Blunden Retreat 48 Where the lashed sleet-gust foams, buffeting and blinding.
1929 C. Day Lewis Transitional Poem ii. 34 When bullying April bruised mine eyes With sleet-bound appetites and crude Experiments of green.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1912; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
† sleetn.2
Military. Obsolete. rare. Apparently only attested in dictionaries or glossaries.
(See quot. 1802.)
ΚΠ
1802 C. James New Mil. Dict. Sleets, are the parts of a mortar going from the chamber to the trunnions, to strengthen that part. [Hence in later Dicts.]
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1912; most recently modified version published online June 2021).
sleetv.
/sliːt/, U.S. /slit/ 1. intransitive.
a. it sleets, sleet falls.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > precipitation or atmospheric moisture > snow > snow or fall (of snow) [verb (intransitive)] > fall (of sleet)
it sleetsc1325
sleet1596
c1325 Gloss. W. de Bibbesw. in Wright Voc. 160 Ore negge, ore cemoie, sletez.
c1340 Nominale (Skeat) 585 Hit is slethe for hit slethuth.
1647 H. Hexham Copious Eng. & Netherduytch Dict. To Sleete, sneeuwen.
1688 G. Miege Great French Dict. ii. sig. Qqq/3 To Sleet, pleuvoir & neiger tout ensemble.
1755 S. Johnson Dict. Eng. Lang. Sleet, to snow in small particles, intermixed with rain.
1845 C. Dickens Chimes iv. 142 So it's blowing, and sleeting, and threatening snow.
1902 Speaker 7 June 277/1 She's up to some deviltry or other When it storms, or sleets, or snows.
b. To fall as, or like, sleet.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > precipitation or atmospheric moisture > snow > snow or fall (of snow) [verb (intransitive)] > fall (of sleet)
it sleetsc1325
sleet1596
1596 T. Lodge Margarite of Amer. sig. B4 Or like the snow at once that dries and sleeteth [rhyme fleeteth].
1955 C. M. Kornbluth Mindworm 39 Her manicured hand gripped his arm in excitement and terror. Unfelt radiation sleeted through their loins.
2. transitive.
a. To pour or cast like sleet.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > precipitation or atmospheric moisture > snow > [verb (transitive)] > cast like sleet
sleet1786
the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > downward motion > causing to come or go down > cause to come or go down [verb (transitive)] > let fall or drop > drop down copiously or in a shower
rainOE
rineOE
snow?a1366
shower1611
sleet1786
1786 S. Henley tr. W. Beckford Arabian Tale 173 By my formidable art, the clouds shall sleet hail-stones in the faces of the assailants; and shafts of red-hot iron on their heads.
b. To drive away with sleet.
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the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > precipitation or atmospheric moisture > snow > [verb (transitive)] > drive away by sleet
sleet1891
1891 W. F. Moulton Let. in Mem. (1899) 247 Every lingering fragment of inflection would be blown, snowed, sleeted, rained and sunned away.
Derivatives
ˈsleeted adj. beaten upon, or covered with, sleet.
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the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > precipitation or atmospheric moisture > snow > [adjective] > characterized by sleet > beaten upon or covered by
sleeted1849
1849 J. G. Whittier To Fredrika Bremer ii Strong as Winter from his mountains Roaring through the sleeted pines.
1884 Harper's Mag. Jan. 173/1 With..sleeted spars and frozen sails.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1912; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
† sleetadv.
Obsolete. rare. Apparently only attested in dictionaries or glossaries.
Aslant, slanting.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > inclination > [adverb]
sidelonga1398
aslanta1400
aslopec1400
embelifc1400
a-sloutc1440
sleetc1440
slant1495
obliquely1503
shoringc1503
a-swash1530
biaswise1545
biasways1556
slantingly1570
sideways1572
slantwise1573
avelinges1577
bias?1578
askant1602
slopely1605
slantinga1625
oblique1667
bias-way1702
skew1706
slantly1719
inclinably1760
slantways1828
slantindicular1831
slantindicularly1834
skewly1896
slaunchways1933
c1440 Promptorium Parvulorum 459/1 Sleet, or a-sleet, oblique.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1912; most recently modified version published online June 2021).
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n.1c1300
n.21802
v.c1325adv.c1440