sirocco
noun/sɪˈɹɒkoʊ/ · /ʃɪˈɹɒkoʊ/
Etymology Borrowed from Italian scirocco (“south-east wind”).
1
A hot and often strong southerly to southeasterly wind on the Mediterranean that originates in the Sahara and adjacent North African regions.
- But come, the board is spread; our silver lamp / Is trimm’d, and heeds not the sirocco’s damp.1814, George Gordon, Lord Byron, Corsair, i:14:
- Diese Toleranz und largeur des Herzens, die Alles „verzeiht“, weil sie Alles „begreift“, ist Scirocco für uns.1888, Friedrich Nietzsche, The Antichrist 1:
2
Colloquial A draft of hot air from an artificial source of heat.
- In the hearth at the north wall a large fire cracked and lisped, flushing the room with a dry sirocco that caused frozen skin to tingle.2003, Erik Larson, The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America, Random House, →ISBN, page 113:
- Derived terms
- siroccoish