Storm Idioms

Several words have become part of the language in being used in phrases. Last time we looked at ‘rain’ and now look at ‘storm’.

Taking something by storm comes from military terminology, first seen around 1680.

Doing something up a storm dates from 1946.

Storm doors are not recorded before 1872.

Storm-tossed, a term normally only used by writers, is seen in print for the first time in 1610.

Storm-bird is seen from 1752, today we refer to it as a petrel.

Storm clouds are unrecorded before 1822.

Dust storms are not described as such until 1838.

Storm troopers are first recorded in 1933, however this had nothing to do with a galaxy far, far away, these were members of the Nazi Sturmabteiling or earlier the German military sturmtruppen during the First World War.

Barnstorming began in 1815, and referred specifically to short theatrical performances of a smutty or vulgar kind. So-called because they were performed in barns in upstate New York. By 1896 the term had started to be used to refer to electioneering tours; and in 1928 to pilots who performed stunts at fairs and during air races. Thunderstorms were not known until 1560.

Snowstorms have been known as such since 1771.

Hailstorms come between the above two, seen since 1690.

Rainstorms are, considering the previous three examples, quite recent in only appearing in writing since 1804.

Brainstorm is a term used since 1861, when it referred to a fit of delirious malaria or sudden loss of the ability to reason. Prior to that, and also as a noun, it was a symptom of a disease seen to be increasing in strength or repetitiveness. The modern use of ‘a concerted attack on a problem’ comes from 1947; while another sense of ‘a brilliant idea’ was around from 1934.

Firestorms have been around since the 1580.

Windstorms have been known since the late 14th century.

Rain Idioms

Several words have become part of the language in being used in phrases. Last time we looked at ‘sun’ and now look at ‘rain’.

Rain dance is seen from 1867, although surely such rituals were performed for centuries or even millennia.

Rain date is first found in 1948, probably more commonly used in the USA, it refers to an alternative date for outdoor events interrupted by rain.

Amazingly the quite complex phrase, always used as an insult, “doesn’t know enough to come in out of the rain’ is recorded as early as 1590.

Rain gauge, that instrument which measures rainfall at a specific point and which you probably haven’t heard of since your school days, is found from 1769.

Nobody ‘rained on another’s parade’ until 1941.

It has been raining cats and dogs since 1738 – and earlier still, from around 1650, it rained dogs and polecats. (Well it would, of course!)

Nobody spoke of a rain cloud until around the end of the 18th century – which begs the question as to where they thought the rain came from?

Nothing was described as rainproof until 1788.

The rain forest is unrecorded before 1899, when it is deemed to have been a translation from the German Regenwald mentioned in A.F.Schimper’s work Pflanzengeographic.

Rainbows have been known since before the beginning of Old English, hence at least two millennia. The Saxons, who spoke Old English, also had the term scurboga or ‘showerbow’.

Rainbow trout are first recorded as such in 1876.

Raincoats are first seen in 1821…..

…. which is 37 years before anyone wrote down ‘rainfall’….

…. and 17 years after ‘rainstorm’ is first recorded.

Rain check was first seen in 1884 and described a ticket given to a spectator who could claim a refund or admission to a replayed game postponed through rain.

Sun Idioms

Several words have become part of the language in being used in phrases. Last time we looked at ‘cloud’ and now look at ‘sun’.

Under the sun – as in anywhere in the world – is first seen as early as the late 12th century.

The sun never sets is a Spanish phrase quickly translated to English and both dating from around the 1630s.

Having one’s ‘place in the sun’ first appears in English in the translation of Pascal’s Pensees.

The ‘sun is over the foreyard’ (note not the yard arm) is first seen in the 17th century, it marking the time it is traditionally acceptable to have the first alcoholic drink of the day – roughly corresponds to noon.

While ‘basking in the sun’ is found from the middle of the 15th century ….

….. it took until 1821 for suntan to become a verb, and until 1888 as a noun.

Sun tan oil is not seen until 1934.

Sun dress is first recorded in 1937 in an advertisement, prior to that (since 1929) the term had been ‘sun back dress’.

Sundials are first seen in the 1590s – at least the term is – for the technology had been known for centuries. Prior to this they were simply referred to as ‘dials’.

Sun-drying of fruit and vegetables is not a new thing by any means, the term has been in use since the 1630s and the process for millennia.

Sun dance, the movement not the film character, has only been recorded since 1849 – undoubtedly dances to herald and praise the sun must have been around since before recorded history, but not referred to as sun dances.

Sun tanning may be a fairly modern phrase, but sun bathing has been around since 1866 in a cosmetic sense and since 1600 for therapeutic purposes.

Sun wake is the rays of the setting sun glinting on the water. Sailors would claim a narrow wake signaled good weather, with bad weather forecast by a broad wake.

Nobody wore a sun bonnet, that with a projection in front to protect the face and another to protect the neck, until 1837.

Think the sun lamp is a new invention? Nope, first named in 1885.

Sun worship, in the religious sense, is first used to describe such in 1670; but the phrase to refer to one who habitually sun bathes is not seen until 1941.

Sunburn has been described since 1520, at least in the modern sense, prior to that it referred to drying out (usually bricks) under the suns rays.

Sunset is seen from the late 14th century; for the Saxons the word was sunnansetlgong while sunset for them simply meant ‘the west’.

Sunrise is seen from the middle of the 15th century, prior to that it was used to mean ‘the east’.

Ride off into the sunset, the stereotypical ending for a Hollywood Western production, is unheard of before 1963.