toad-strangler
English
Noun
toad-strangler (plural toad-stranglers)
- (US, regional, idiomatic) A very heavy downpour of rain.
- 1940, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, When the whippoorwill:
- "I mean, hit's a toad-strangler of a rain," he proffered. "I mean!" she agreed. "Reckon your daddy'll keer, me a-follerin' this-a-way?" "Reckon he mought."
- 1943, James Hilton, The story of Dr. Wassell:
- It's not what I'd call a sprinkle, and it's not a chip washer or a gully washer — it's a real regular toad-strangler, and I've seen 'em like this in Arkansas when it turns all the roads into black gumbo.
- 1998, Sheldon Russell, The Savage Trail:
- It rained in memory of Noah, a toad-strangler that threatened to wash them all into a gully that foamed and churned with red water
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Synonyms
- gully-washer, cob-floater, duck-drownder (duck-drowner), frog-strangler, goose drownder (goose-drowner), lightwood-knot floater, sod-soaker, trash-mover, sheep drowner