raindrift

raindrift

English

Etymology

rain +‎ drift

Noun

raindrift (plural raindrifts)

1. A sheet of rain blown by the wind.
   • 1843, John Mason Neale, Agnes de Tracy (page 55)

     The fierce wind drove a raindrift in at the open door, as two men, drenched from head to foot, but vested as Benedictine monks, entered.

   • 1864, James Augustus St. John, Weighed in the balance (page 40)

     Tiny pools diversified the surface of the well-made road, which, as they advanced farther and farther into the open country, was swept by raindrifts, driven furiously before the rising wind, that whistled through the naked trees […]

   • 1905, The Irish Monthly (volume 33, page 379)

     Then there was stamping on the gravel and murmurs of voices; then silence preceding the snap of a whip, and, finally, a rolling of wheels down the avenue, lost in the roaring of the wind and the rattle of the dismal raindrifts […]