Pluvial - Definitions from Dictionary.com

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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

plu·vi·al

Audio Help [ploo-vee-uh

l] Pronunciation Key

–adjective

1.	of or pertaining to rain, esp. much rain; rainy.

2.	Geology. occurring through the action of rain.

–noun

3.	Geology. a rainy period formerly regarded as coeval with a glacial age, but now recognized as episodic and, in the tropics, as characteristic of interglacial ages.

[Origin: 1650–60; < L pluviālis, equiv. to pluvi(a) rain + -ālis -al¹

]

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Pluvial

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

plu·vi·al Audio Help (plōō'vē-əl) Pronunciation Key
adj.

Of or relating to rain; rainy.
Geology Marked or formed by abundant rainfall: pluvial periods; a pluvial lake.

n. Geology
An extended period of abundant rainfall, especially such a period of the Pleistocene Epoch.

[Latin pluviālis, from pluvia, rain; see pluvious.]

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
pluvial

1656, "of or pertaining to rain," from Fr. pluvial (12c.), from L. pluvialis "pertaining to rain," from (aqua) pluvia "rain (water)," from fem. of pluvius "rainy," from plovere "to rain," from PIE base *pleu- "to flow, to swim" (cf. Skt. plavate "navigates, swims;" Gk. plynein "to wash," plein "to navigate;" O.E. flowan "to flow").

The American Heritage Science Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

pluvial Audio Help (pl

'vē-əl) Pronunciation Key
Relating to or caused by rain.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Pluvial

Fleet\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Fleeted; p. pr. & vb. n. Fleeting.] [OE. fleten, fleoten, to swim, AS. fle['o]tan to swim, float; akin to D. vlieten to flow, OS. fliotan, OHG. fliozzan, G. fliessen, Icel. flj[=o]ta to float, flow, Sw. flyta, D. flyde, L. pluere to rain, Gr. ? to sail, swim, float, Skr. plu to swim, sail. [root]84. Cf. Fleet, n. & a., Float, Pluvial, Flow.]

1. To sail; to float. [Obs.]

And in frail wood on Adrian Gulf doth fleet. --Spenser.

2. To fly swiftly; to pass over quickly; to hasten; to flit as a light substance.

All the unaccomplished works of Nature's hand, . . . Dissolved on earth, fleet hither. --Milton.

3. (Naut.) To slip on the whelps or the barrel of a capstan or windlass; -- said of a cable or hawser.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Pluvial

Plu"vi*al\, a. [L. pluvialis, fr. pluvia rain: cf. F. pluvial. See Plover.]

1. Of or pertaining to rain; rainy. [R.]

2. (Geol.) Produced by the action of rain.

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