Weather-gaw
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 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. Scotland, UK, dialectal, often
"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."
- 2 A period of fine weather in the midst of bad weather. Scotland, UK, dialectal, often
""This is a fine day after the storm." "Aye, but aa doot it's a weather-gaw.""
Example
More examples"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."
Etymology
Probably borrowed from Scots weather-ga, weather-gaw, weather-gow, possibly from English weather-gall, from weather + gall (“blister, swelling; (figurative) something exasperating or galling”). cognates * Dutch weergal * German wettergalle
More for "weather-gaw"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.