rains

Also found in: Thesaurus, Medical, Acronyms, Idioms, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia.

rain

(rān)

a. Water condensed from atmospheric vapor and falling in drops.

b. A fall of such water; a rainstorm.

c. The descent of such water.

d. Rainy weather.

e. rains A rainy season.

2. A heavy or abundant fall: a rain of fluffy cottonwood seeds; a rain of insults.

v. rained, rain·ing, rains

v.intr.

1. To fall in drops of water from the clouds.

2. To fall like rain: Praise rained down on the composer.

3. To release rain.

v.tr.

1. To send or pour down.

2. To give abundantly; shower: rain gifts; rain curses upon their heads.

Phrasal Verb:

rain out

To force the cancellation or postponement of (an outdoor event) because of rain. Used in passive constructions: The ball game was rained out.

Idiom:

rain cats and dogs Informal

To rain very heavily.

[Middle English, from Old English regn, rēn.]

rain′less adj.

rains

(reɪnz)

pl n

(Physical Geography) the rains the season of heavy rainfall, esp in the tropics

Translations

βρέχει

Mentioned in ?

References in classic literature ?

It's all on my way, you know, and it rains, they say.

View in context

In the spring when the rains have passed and be- fore the long hot days of summer have come, the country about Winesburg is delightful.

View in context

The burning sun of those few weeks, with occasional rains at night, secured the corn.

View in context

Yes, yes; I was then young, and new to the sight of blood; and not relishing the thought that creatures who had spirits like myself should lay on the naked ground, to be torn asunder by beasts, or to bleach in the rains, I buried the dead with my own hands, under that very little hillock where you have placed yourselves; and no bad seat does it make neither, though it be raised by the bones of mortal men.

View in context

From the ship, the smoke of the torments of the boiling whale is going up like the smoke over a village of smithies; and to windward, a black cloud, rising up with earnest of squalls and rains, seems to quicken the activity of the excited seamen.

View in context

Rains and spray had damped it; the sun and wind had warped it; all the elements had combined to rot a thing that hung so idly.

View in context

In the spring there were cold rains, that turned the streets into canals and bogs; the mud would be so deep that wagons would sink up to the hubs, so that half a dozen horses could not move them.

View in context

In process of time, the rains wash off all the turf and grass aforesaid, move the logs hither and thither, in picturesque positions, up, down and crosswise, with divers chasms and ruts of black mud intervening.

View in context

This panel was old and gray and feeble, and the light masonry had been loosened by recent rains.

View in context

He 'most took the business out of the lawyer's hands sometimes; which was well enough, because that was only a mud-turtle of a back-settlement lawyer and didn't know enough to come in when it rains, as the saying is.

View in context

It rains fast, Hannah: will you have the goodness to look at the fire in the parlour?

View in context

As it rains, I hardly expect them; but they may come, and if they do, you run the risk of being scolded for no good.