Haar

//hɑː(ɹ)// name, noun

Definitions

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A municipality near Munich, Germany.
Noun
  1. 1
    Thick, cold, wet fog along the northeastern coast of Northern England and Scotland. Northern-England, Scotland, countable, especially, uncountable

    "The traffic noise used to be constant, at times as thick as the haar, the sea fog that sometimes rolls in here from the North Sea."

  2. 2
    A wind, especially one from the east, which blows in this fog. Scotland, countable, especially, uncountable

    "[…] westerly haar, which wraps everything up in white wool, and blots out sea and sky, and chokes the depressed wayfarer-not to speak of the penetrating chill which even in June goes down into the marrow of your bones, and makes the[…]"

Etymology

Attested since the late 17th century, alongside Scots haar (“cold easterly wind; misty wind; cold fog or mist”). Perhaps ultimately from Middle Dutch hare (“cold wind”) or a related Low German word; compare Dutch harig (“windy; foggy, misty”), Saterland Frisian harig (“misty”). Alternatively, perhaps simply a northern English or Scottish variant of hoar, or a borrowing of Old Norse hárr (“hoary”).

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