rain

 
Pronunciation: /reɪn/

noun

[mass noun]
  • the condensed moisture of the atmosphere falling visibly in separate drops: the rain had not stopped for days it’s pouring with rain
  • (rains) falls of rain: the plants were washed away by unusually heavy rains
  • [in singular] a large or overwhelming quantity of things that fall or descend: he fell under the rain of blows

verb

[no object] (it rains, it is raining, etc.)
  • rain falls: it was beginning to rain
  • literary (of the sky, the clouds, etc.) send down rain: the low sky raining over tower’d Camelot
  • [with adverbial of direction] fall or cause to fall in large or overwhelming quantities: [no object]: bombs rained down [with object]: she rained blows on to him
  • [with object] (it rains ——, it is raining ——, etc.) used to convey that a specified thing is falling in large quantities: it was just raining glass

Phrases

be as right as rain

be perfectly fit and well: she’ll be right as rain in a couple of days

it never rains but it pours

see pour.

rain cats and dogs

rain very hard.
[origin uncertain; first recorded in 1738, used by Jonathan Swift, but the phrase rain dogs and polecats was used a century earlier in Richard Brome's The City Witt]

rain on someone's parade

informal prevent someone from enjoying an event; spoil someone’s plans.

(come) rain or shine

whether it rains or not; whatever the weather: he runs six miles every morning, rain or shine

Phrasal Verbs

be rained off (or North American out)

(of an event) be cancelled or terminated because of rain: the match was rained off

Derivatives

rainless

adjective

Origin:

Old English regn (noun), regnian (verb), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch regen and German Regen