Tempest sb.

Forms: 3– tempest; also 3–6 tempeste, 4–5 tempast, -e. [a. OF. tempeste, fem. (11th c. in Roland) = It., Prov. tempesta:—pop.L. *tempesta-m, for cl. L. tempestās, -ātem season, weather, storm, f. tempus a time, a season; also a. OF. tempest masc. (13th c. in Godef.) Prov. tempest:—L. *tempestum. OF. had also *tempeste, acc. sing. tempesté, pl. tempestez (12th c.) = Sp. tempestád, Pg. tempestade, It. -ate, -ade,:—L. tempestās, tempestā-t-em.]

  1.  A violent storm of wind, usually accompanied by a downfall of rain, hail, or snow, or by thunder.

c. 1250.  Old Kentish Serm., in O. E. Misc., 32. So hi were in þo ssipe so a-ros a great tempeste of winde.

1297.  R. Glouc. (Rolls), 1151. Hor folc hii lore in þe se þoru tempest [v.r. tempeste] moni on.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 6027 (Cott.). Israel for þis tempest [Gött. tempast] Was noþer harmed, man ne beist.

13[?].  K. Alis., 5810 (Bodl. MS.). Þe wederes stronge and tempestes Þat hem duden grete molestes.

c. 1386.  Chaucer, Manciple’s T., 197. Euere crie agayn tempest and rayn.

1390.  Gower, Conf., III. 203. A cruel king lich the tempeste, The whom no Pite myhte areste.

c. 1400.  Destr. Troy, 12467. Trees thurgh tempestes, tynde hade þere leues.

1535.  Coverdale, 2 Kings ii. 1. Whan the Lorde was mynded to take vp Elias in the tempest.

1665.  Sir T. Herbert, Trav. (1677), 389. Seven whole dayes and nights this tempest lasted.

1697.  Dryden, Virg. Georg., IV. 608. A Station safe for Ships, when Tempests roar.

1815.  J. Smith, Panorama Sc. & Art, II. 46. In some places the time of change is attended with calms, in others … with violent tempests.

1856.  Stanley, Sinai & Pal., i. § 3. 68. The whole air filled with a tempest of sand driving in your face like sleet.

  b.  A thunder-storm. dial.

c. 1532.  Du Wes, Introd. Fr., in Palsgr., 946/1. To be killed with tempest, fouldroier.

1712.  Hearne, Collect., 30 June (O.H.S.), III. 408. We were forc’d by a tempest to stop at Yarnton.

1839.  G. Bird, Nat. Phil., 212. Several instances have occurred of the fatal effects of a tempest … at a considerable distance from the spot … where the violence of the lightning appeared to have been chiefly exerted.

c. 1860.  Northamp. Dial., It’s very still and black. I think we shall have a tempest to-night.

1883.  Hampsh. Gloss., Tempest, a thunder-storm.

  2.  transf. and fig. A violent commotion or disturbance; a tumult, rush; agitation, perturbation. Tempest in a tea-pot: see TEA-POT.

c. 1315.  Shoreham, vii. 642. Þat best … þat hyt hedde ine hym y-nome Soche a tempeste.

13[?].  Guy Warw. (A.), 273. Now is Gij in gret tempest, Sorwe he makeþ wiþ þe mest.

1472.  Coventry Leet Bk., 373. The gret tempestes diuisions & troubles that in late daies haue be in this our Reaume.

1588.  Shaks., Tit. A., I. i. 458. Cheere the heart, That dies in tempest of thy angry frowne.

1606.  S. Gardiner, Bk. Angling, 12. Waues of tribulation, tempests of tentations.

1770.  Burke, Corr. (1844), I. 243. In the midst of all this tempest the ministers … seem much at their ease.

1882.  Lond. Soc., XLI. 610/2. Clare remembered the childish tempest of sorrow she had witnessed a few hours ago.

1894.  H. Nisbet, Bush Girl’s Rom., 61. Helen Craven was very pale and very silent during this parental tempest.

1909.  Daily Chron., 3 Dec., 1/2. This fine passage … drew a tempest of cheering.

1921.  Honoré Willsie, Enchanted Canyon, xv. 293. Outwardly calm and collected, within he was a tempest.

  † b.  Calamity, misfortune, trouble. Obs.

c. 1330.  R. Brunne, Chron. Wace (Rolls), 16541. Moryne & hunger … had reft … al þe folk wyþ tempest vnkynde.

c. 1470.  Henry, Wallace, VII. 394. For sleuth nor sleip sall nayne remayne in me, Off this tempest till I a wengeance se.

  3.  A confused or tumultuous throng; † a crowded assembly: cf. HURRICANE 2 b (obs.); a rushing or tearing crowd.

1746.  Smollett, Advice, 30, note. Not unaptly styled a drum, from the noise and emptiness of the entertainment. There are also drum-major, rout, tempest, and hurricane, differing only in degrees of multitude and uproar.

1755.  J. Shebbeare, Lydia (1769), II. 309. How to spend their hours in London more agreeably than in routs, drums, huricanes, and tempests.

1866.  Carlyle, in Morning Star, 5 April, 5/5. It turned out to be a tempest of wild horses, managed by young lads who had a turn for hunting with their grooms.

  b.  A person of stormy temper.

1852.  Mrs. Stowe, Uncle Tom’s C., xxiii. Henrique is a regular little tempest—his mother and I have given him up long ago.

  † 4.  A time; a period, an occasion. (A verbalism of translation.) Obs.

1382.  Wyclif, 2 Chron. xxviii. 9. In that tempest [Vulg. ea tempestate] was ther a prophete of the Lord.

1387.  Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), II. 337. In þat tempest [sub ea tempestate] went out þat man þat heet Liber pater.

  5.  attrib. and Comb. a. simple attrib., as tempest-anger, -cloud, -pitch, -rack (RACK sb.¹ 3), -shock, -speed, -spirit, -time; b. instrumental, etc., as tempest-beaten, -blown, -born, -driven, -flung, -harrowed, -rent, -rocked, -swept, -torn, -troubled, -winged, -worn, -wracked adjs.; also TEMPEST-TOSSED; c. objective, etc., as tempest-bearing, -clear, -loving, -proof, -scoffing, -walking adjs.; also tempest-raiser.

1898.  W. Watson, Poems, Tomb of Burns. Byron’s *tempest-anger, tempest-mirth.

1747.  Dunkin, in Francis’s trans. Horace, Ep. II. ii. 307. Nor yet expos’d to *Tempest-bearing Strife.

1591.  Sylvester, Du Bartas, I. v. 433. The *tempest-beaten Vessel’s stern.

1759.  Johnson, Rasselas, xxi. I rejoiced like a tempest-beaten sailor at his entrance into the harbour.

1865.  Baring-Gould, Were-wolves, x. 177. To leave the summer cirrus and turn to the *tempest-born rain-cloud.

1868.  M. Collins, Sweet Anne Page, I. 149. Always the white sky should be *tempest-clear.

1849.  trans. De la Motte Fouque’s Sir Elidoc, 166. His *tempest-driven heart.

1776.  Mickle, trans. Camoens’ Lusiad, 80. On many a *tempest-harrowed ocean tost.

1727–46.  Thomson, Summer, 1123. The *tempest-loving raven scarce Dares wing the dubious dusk.

1660.  Bond, Scut. Reg., 403. Like one Ship … *tempest-proof upon a troubled Sea.

1844.  Lowell, Legend of Brittany, II. xi. Before its eyes the sullen *tempest-rack Would fade.

1877.  trans. Lacroix’s Sc. & Lit. Mid. Ages (1878), 225. A special class of sorcerers called *tempest-raisers.

1822.  T. Mitchell, Aristoph., I. 186. Must I be thus *tempest-rent?

c. 1820.  S. Rogers, Italy, Camp. Florence, 176. Now *tempest-rocked, now whirling round and round.

1837.  Spirit of the Woods, 84. Mid sorrow’s *tempest-shock.

1854.  J. S. C. Abbott, Napoleon (1855), II. iv. 79. Struggling along the drifted and *tempest-swept defile.

1633.  Ford, Broken H., IV. ii. Like *tempest-threaten’d trees unfirmly rooted.

1598.  Drayton, Heroic Ep., Brandon to Q. Mary, 77. After long traunile, *tempest-torne and wrack’d.

1825.  Richardson, Sonnets, 141. I marked the *tempest-troubled wave.

1727–46.  Thomson, Summer, 344. Till, *tempest-wing’d, Fierce Winter sweeps them from the face of day.

1908.  R. A. S. Wade, Parchment, etc. 138.