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Cloudburst vs Gullywasher - What's the difference?

cloudburst | gullywasher |

As nouns the difference between cloudburst and gullywasher

is that cloudburst is a sudden heavy rainstorm while gullywasher is an intense, but usually short-lived, rainstorm.

cloudburst

English

(wikipedia cloudburst)

Alternative forms

* cloud-burst

Noun

(en noun)
  • A sudden heavy rainstorm.
  • * 1899 , , "A Cup of Cold Water" in The Greater Inclination :
    • [B]ut the sound . . . expressed an utter abandonment to grief; not the cloud-burst of some passing emotion, but the slow down-pour of a whole heaven of sorrow.
  • * 1908 , , The Riverman , ch. 38:
    • A cloudburst in the China Creek district followed by continued heavy rains was responsible for the increased water.
  • * 1936 Aug. 17, " Miscellany," Time (retrieved 20 May 2014):
    • In Uniontown, Pa., John Walchesky & family rushed from their house when lightning set it afire, rushed in again when a cloudburst put out the blaze.
  • * 2007 Feb. 25, , " Devotion'', chapter 1" (book excerpt), ''New York Times (retrieved 20 May 2014):
    • [H]e walked across the lawn, wet from a fleeting late-afternoon cloudburst , the first rain in a month.

    Synonyms

    * cloudbust

    gullywasher

    English

    Alternative forms

    * gully-washer * gully washer

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (US, informal) An intense, but usually short-lived, rainstorm.
    • (USRegionDisputed)

    Usage notes

    This term is used throughout the Midland,2001', Colleen Cotter, ''USA Phrasebook'' and Western United States. Allan A. Metcalf's '''2000 book ''How We Talk: American Regional English Today notes "there are gully washers throughout the South and South Midlands, and this is one Southern term that is well-known in the central Midwest as well, as far north as Nebraska, Iowa, and Wisconsin, and as far west as Colorado. But there aren't any gully washers in New England or the northernmost states, and the word is rare on the Pacific coast."

    References