williwaw \WIL-ee-waw\, noun:
a violent squall that blows in near-polar latitudes, as in the Strait of Magellan, Alaska, and the Aleutian Islands.
Outside, a new note has crept into the wind, a black williwaw sound straight from the terrible wastes to the north.
-- Walker Percy, The Moviegoer, 1961
There was a big williwaw blowing and nothing was moving on the island. So I was a couple of days late in leaving…
-- Edited by Fern Chandonnet, Alaska at War, 1941-1945: The Forgotten War Remembered, 2007
Williwaw entered English in the 1830s. It is of unknown origin.
No comments:
Post a Comment