Sleet

Pronunciation

• IPA: /sliːt/
• Rhymes: -iːt

Origin

From Middle English, from a Germanic language. , the author of Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, suggests Old Norse slydda (whence Danish slud).

Skeat (in German) considers the English word “sleet” to be a loanword from Scandinavia and cites the Norwegian word “sletta.”

The term is akin to dialectal German Schloße ("large hailstone").

Full definition of sleet

Noun

1. (chiefly British) A mixture of rain and snow.
2. Rain which freezes before reaching the ground.
3. (firearms) Part of a mortar extending from the chamber to the trunnions.

Synonyms

• ice pellets
• slush

Verb

1. (impersonal, of the weather) To be in a state in which sleet is falling.I won't bother going out until it's stopped sleeting.

Usage notes

Anagrams

• leets, steel, stele, teles