Link Centre Dictionary

drizzle

UK/ˈdɹɪzəl/ US/ˈdɹɪzl̩/ uncommon dated slang
noun (1) verb (2)

noun

1.

very light rain; stronger than mist but less than a shower

Synonyms

verb

1.

rain lightly

  • “When it drizzles in summer, hiking can be pleasant”
Synonyms
2.

moisten with fine drops

  • “drizzle the meat with melted butter”
Synonyms

Origin

Perhaps a back-formation from dryseling, a dissimilated variant of Middle English drysning (“a falling of dew”), from , related to Old English drēosan (“to fall, to decline”), making it cognate to modern English droze and drowse. Compare also dialectal Swedish drösla.

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.