sirocco

views updated May 11 2018

si·roc·co / səˈräkō/ (also sci·roc·co / shəˈräkō; sə-/ ) • n. (pl. -cos) a hot wind, often dusty or rainy, blowing from North Africa across the Mediterranean to southern Europe.

The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English

sirocco

views updated May 18 2018

sirocco Wind often arising over the Sahara Desert, picking up moisture from the Mediterranean Sea, and bringing hot, rainy weather to the Mediterranean coast of Europe.

World Encyclopedia

Sirocco

views updated Jun 27 2018

Sirocco ★★ ½ 1951

An American gun-runner (Bogart) stuck in Syria in 1925 matches wits with a French intelligence officer amid civil war and intrigue. About the underbelly of human affairs. 111m/B VHS, DVD . Humphrey Bogart, Lee J. Cobb, Zero Mostel, Everett Sloane, Gerald Mohr; D: Curtis Bernhardt; C: Burnett Guffey.

VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever

sirocco

views updated May 29 2018

sirocco oppressively hot and blighting wind blowing from the north coast of Africa. XVII. — F. sirocco, earlier †siroc(h) — It. scirocco — Arab šarūk, var. of šark east (wind), f. šaraḳa (the sun) rose.

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology T. F. HOAD