weather-gaw

English

WOTD – 13 May 2025

Etymology

Probably borrowed from Scots weather-ga, weather-gaw, weather-gow, possibly from English weather-gall,[1] from weather + gall (“blister, swelling; (figurative) something exasperating or galling”).[2]

cognates

Pronunciation

Noun

weather-gaw (plural weather-gaws) (UK, dialectal, often Scotland)

  2. An instance of some phenomenon in the sky said to signal bad weather, such as an incomplete or secondary rainbow, or a parhelion or sun dog; a weather-gall or water-gall.
    • 1819 April, James Hogg, “Snow-storms”, in The Shepherd’s Calendar. […], volume II, Edinburgh: William Blackwood; London: T[homas] Cadell, published 1829, →OCLC, page 258:
      They asked Wattie, who was a very religious man, what could have induced him to gather his sheep on the Sabbath day? He answered, that he had seen an ill-hued weather-gaw that morning, and was afraid it was going to be a drift.
    • 1822, [Walter Scott], chapter IV, in The Pirate. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC, page 59:
      [S]ee how much heavier the clouds fall every moment, and see these weather-gaws that streak the lead-coloured mass with partial gleams of faded red and purple.
    • 1875, John Veitch, “The Growth of Nature Feeling”, in The Tweed and Other Poems, Glasgow: James Maclehose, publisher to the University; London: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, page 50:
      ‘The weather-gaw’ he scans above the hill, / Wherein the rainbow's hues with watery sheen / Gleam beautiful upon the grey-dark sky, / Yet ominous of storm; […]
    • [1894 April 20 (date delivered), James Shaw, “Words, New to Me, Collected from the Dumfriesshire Dialect during the Last 30 Years”, in The Transactions and Journal of Proceedings of the Dumfriesshire & Galloway Natural History & Antiquarian Society. […] Session 1893–94, number 10, Dumfries, Dumfriesshire: […] Standard Office, published 1895, →OCLC, page 158:
      Weather-gaw, part of a rainbow seen, the greater part of the bow being intercepted.]
    • 1898, Richard Inwards, compiler, “Rainbow”, in Weather Lore: A Collection of Proverbs, Sayings, and Rules Concerning the Weather […], 3rd edition, London: Elliot Stock, […], →OCLC, page 135:
      The weather's taking up now, / For yonder's the weather gaw; / How bonny is the east now! / Now the colours fade awa'.
      A poem originating from Galloway, Scotland.
    • 1929, L[ucy] M[aud] Montgomery, “Marigold Entertains”, in Magic for Marigold, Toronto, Ont.: McClelland and Stewart, →OCLC, section 4, page 190:
      After supper I'll take you home—if the weather keeps good-humoured. Those weather-gaws aren't out for nothing. It'll rain cats and dogs to-morrow.
  3. A period of fine weather in the midst of bad weather.
    • 1893–1894, Oliver Heslop, “WEATHER-GAW”, in Northumberland Words. A Glossary of Words Used in the County of Northumberland and on the Tyneside, volume IJ, London: [F]or the English Dialect Society by Henry Frowde, Oxford University Press, […], →OCLC, page 775:
      "This is a fine day after the storm." "Aye, but aa doot it's a weather-gaw."

Translations

References

  1. ^ “weather-ga(w), -gow” under “weather, n., v.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC, reproduced from W[illiam] Grant and D[avid] D. Murison, editors, The Scottish National Dictionary, Edinburgh: Scottish National Dictionary Association, 1931–1976, →OCLC.
  2. ^ “weather-gall, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, July 2023; “gall, n.2”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, March 2024; “gall2, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading

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