drizzle
nounEtymology Perhaps a back-formation from dryseling, a dissimilated variant of Middle English drysning (“a falling of dew”), from Northumbrian Old English drysnan (“to extinguish”), related to Old English drēosan (“to fall, to decline”), making it cognate to modern English droze and drowse. Compare also dialectal Swedish drösla.
1
Light rain.
- Up here, it's a 'dreich' day with steady drizzle. Deep drainage channels either side of the track are already more like streams: Rannoch Moor is a wet place.2023 November 29, Paul Clifton, “West is best in the Highlands”, in RAIL, number 997, page 39:
2
Climatology, Meteorology, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Physics, Weather Very small, numerous, and uniformly dispersed water drops, mist, or sprinkle. Unlike fog droplets, drizzle falls to the ground.
- No longer pouring, the rain outside slowed down to a faint drizzle.
3
Slang Water.
- Stop drinking all of my drizzle!
4
Something that is drizzled.
- The warm apple tart, made to order, had a definitively crisp shell. Its filling of apples was tender and sweet, and the drizzle of caramel rum sauce added sophistication.1999 November 21, Catherine Jones, “Restaurants: Palate and Palette”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 27 May 2015:
- Thick shavings of Parmesan were plentiful, but the drizzle of “white truffle oil” promised on the menu had been forgotten.2009 May 29, Patricia Brooks, “A Retro Rebirth at a Storied Location”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 18 Sep 2019:
1 more example
- Drizzle is not normally good news. Not when it's falling from the sky, not when it's replacing a decent helping of sauce, and especially not when it's found on a menu in close proximity to the words "balsamic vinegar". Deliciously sticky, sweet and sour lemon drizzle cake is the one, and very honourable, exception. […] Rhodes and Holt wisely avoid any icing, relying on the power of the drizzle: and I'm inclined to agree – with the crunchy, granulated sugar syrups used by Holt and George, anything further would seem to be over-egging the cake.2013 January 23, Felicity Cloake, “How to cook the perfect lemon drizzle cake”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 10 Sep 2013:
5
Baking, Cooking, Food, Lifestyle A cake onto which icing, honey or syrup has been drizzled in an artistic manner.
- The rest of the day is spent trying to concentrate on ingredient labels, ordering supplies, baking some fairy cakes for a hen party and two lemon drizzles, one for a new baby and one for an old dear's birthday.2009, Jules Stanbridge, Sugar and Spice:
- Derived terms
- bedrizzle, drizzleable, drizzle-drozzle, drizzler, drizzlingly, drizzly, misle, squizzle