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sultry

 - 3 dictionary results

sul⋅try

  [suhl-tree]
–adjective, -tri⋅er, -tri⋅est.
1. oppressively hot and close or moist; sweltering: a sultry day.
2. oppressively hot; emitting great heat: the sultry sun.
3. characterized by or associated with sweltering heat: sultry work in the fields.
4. characterized by or arousing passion: sultry eyes.
Use sultry in a Sentence
Origin:
1585–95; sult(e)r (var. of swelter ) + -y 1

Related forms:
sul⋅tri⋅ly, adverb
sul⋅tri⋅ness, noun

Synonyms:
1. oppressive, stifling, humid.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2010.
Cite This Source Link To sultry
sul·try   (sŭl'trē)   
adj.   sul·tri·er, sul·tri·est

    1. Very humid and hot: sultry July weather.

    2. Extremely hot; torrid: the sultry sands of the desert.

  2. Expressing or arousing desire: a sultry look; a sultry dance.


[From obsolete sulter, to swelter, possibly alteration of swelter.]
sul'tri·ly adv., sul'tri·ness n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

sultry 
1594, "oppressively hot, close and moist" (of weather), from obs. verb sulter "to swelter" (1581), alteration of swelter. Fig. sense of "hot with lust" is attested from 1704; of women, "lascivious, sensual, arousing desire" it is recorded from 1940.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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