sleet
/sliːt
/noun [mass noun]
1Rain containing some ice, as when snow melts as it falls: driving sleet and rain made conditions horrendous...
- Snow, sleet, driving rain and gale force winds were sweeping across the north west today (Saturday).
- During the climb weather conditions deteriorated to such an extent that the group and their guides faced snow, sleet and rain showers during the ascent.
- Weather experts predict rain and sleet in York and snow on the North York Moors, with temperatures dipping to - 2C or 28.4F tonight.
1.1US A thin coating of ice formed by sleet or rain freezing on coming into contact with a cold surface.Elongated strips of icicles dangled from the sides of the shed ceiling, and a thin film of sleet enveloped everything else....
- It never snowed in Austin, but that morning there was definitely sleet on the ground.
- The wipers went to work, pushing the sleet and snow from the windshield.
verb [no object] (it sleets, it is sleeting, etc.)
Sleet falls: it was sleeting so hard we could barely see...
- For all I cared it could've been sleeting down and blowing a gale: I felt better than I had for a long time.
- But it's been sleeting for the last ten minutes and you've been standing out in it.
- It was sleeting, and my team spotted a ribbon of smoke in the forest and wheeled off the road to a campfire, around which huddled six Lithuanian cyclists.
Derivatives
sleety
- When we got out of the car it was blowing an icy, sleety gale.
- By now the snow is easing off and has turned into a sort of swirling sleety rain.
- It will warm up after Tuesday but we should expect more sleety showers coming in from the Atlantic.
Origin
Middle English: of Germanic origin; probably related to Middle Low German slōten (plural) 'hail' and German Schlosse 'hailstone'.