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mackerel sky

noun

Etymology

From mackerel + sky.

  1. derived from *(s)kewH-✻ — “to cover; to conceal, hide”
  2. derived from *skiwją✻ — “cloud; sky”
  3. derived from ský — “cloud”
  4. inherited from sky — “sky; cloud; mist”
  5. compounded as mackerel sky — “mackerel + sky”

Definitions

  1. A sky filled with a regular pattern of altocumulus clouds somewhat resembling the skin of…

    A sky filled with a regular pattern of altocumulus clouds somewhat resembling the skin of a mackerel.

    • 1717, Dictionarium Rusticum, Urbanicum & Botanicum, London: J. Nicholson et al., 2nd edition, “CLOUDS,” […] in a fair day, if the Sky seem to be dappled with white Clouds, which is usually termed, A Mackerel-Sky, it commonly predicts rain:
    • The clouds were of the fleecy kind, which sailors denominate a mackerel sky.
    • The sky was what is called a mackerel sky, rows and rows of faint down-plumes of cloud, just tinted with the midsummer sunset.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for mackerel sky. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA