Crossword clues for etesian
etesian
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Etesian \E*te"sian\, a. [L. etesiae, pl., periodic winds, Gr. ?, fr. ? year: cf. F. ['e]t['e]sien.] Periodical; annual; -- applied to winds which annually blow from the north over the Mediterranean, esp. the eastern part, for an irregular period during July and August.
Wiktionary
a. Pertaining to a dry north wind which blows in the eastern Mediterranean. n. A dry north wind which blows in the eastern Mediterranean.
Wikipedia
The etesians ( or ; ; sometimes found in the Latin form etesiae), meltemia (; pl. of meltemi), or meltem ( Turkish) are the strong, dry north winds of the Aegean Sea, which blow from about mid-May to mid-September. According to C. Michael Hogan, the Etesian winds are the dominant weather influence in the Aegean Basin.
They are at their strongest in the afternoon and often die down at night, but sometimes meltemi winds last for days without a break. Similar winds blow in the Adriatic and Ionian regions. Meltemi winds are dangerous to sailors because they come up in clear weather without warning and can blow at 7-8 Beaufort. Some yachts and most inter island ferries cannot sail under such conditions.
The word etesian ultimately derives from the Greek word etos "year", connotating the yearly fluctuation in frequency of appearance of these winds. Etesians have been described since ancient times; their Turkish and the Modern Greek names are probably a loan from Italian mal tempo 'bad weather'. Though it is sometimes called a monsoon wind, the meltemi is dry and does not correspond to an opposite wind in the winter. However, the etesians are distantly correlated with the summer monsoons of the Indian subcontinent, as it is a trough of low pressure into the Eastern Mediterranean region that enforces, if not causes, the etesians to blow in summer. A Mediterranean climate is sometimes called an etesian climate.
Etesians are due chiefly to the deep continental depression centered over southwest Asia and blow from a direction which may be anywhere between north-east and north-west depending on local topography; meltemi weather is ordinarily fine and clear, the northerly winds tempering the fierce summer heat of the region.
In the Northern Aegean sea, the etesians blow as winds of northeasterly to northerly direction. Moving south, in the central Aegean, they blow as winds of northerly direction, while, in the southern Aegean, the Cretan and the Carpathian sea, they blow as northwesterlies. The same winds blow in Cyprus as westerlies to southwesterlies, being more humid.
Historically, Philip II of Macedon timed his military operations so that powerful southern fleets could not reach him: their ships could sail north only very slowly while the Etesian winds were blowing.
It is most of the time a good steady sailing wind preferred by many leisure sailors in the Aegean Sea.
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Usage examples of "etesian".
The French squadron took the direction of Candia, which we perceived on the 25th of June, and afterwards stood to the south, favoured by the Etesian winds, which regularly prevail at that season.
And at dawn the Etesian winds blew strongly, which by the command of Zeus blow over every land equally.
And on this account it is that Etesian winds from Zeus cool the land for forty days, and in Ceos even now the priests offer sacrifices before the rising of the Dog-star.
The Etesian winds have begun to blow, so he should be here in two days.
The following day, the Ides of October, the Etesian winds arrived with the dawn.
The empty grain fleets came down from Ostia, Puteoli and Neapolis on the Etesian winds, and by the time the harvest was in and the ships loaded, Auster the south wind blew the fleets back to Italy.
The Greek and Latin historians do not speak favourably of it, and Strabo says it is very dangerous during the Etesian winds and in the rainy season.
His armour was patched up of a thousand incoherent pieces, and the sound of it, as he marched, was loud and dry, like that made by the fall of a sheet of lead, which an Etesian wind blows suddenly down from the roof of some steeple.
Osiris as symbols referring to four things, the subsidence of the Nile into his channel, the cessation of the delicious Etesian winds before the hot blasts of the South, the encroachment of the lengthening night on the shortening day, the disappearance of the bloom of summer before the barrenness of winter.