Spindrift (more rarelyspoondrift)[1] is thespray blown from cresting waves during agale. This spray, which "drifts" in the direction of the gale, is one of the characteristics of a wind speed of 8Beaufort and higher at sea.[2] In Greek and Roman mythology,Leucothea was the goddess of spindrift.[3]
Spindrift is derived from theScots language, but its furtheretymology is uncertain.[4] Although theOxford English Dictionary suggests it is a variant ofspoondrift based on the way that word was pronounced in southwest Scotland,[5] fromspoon orspoom ("to sail briskly with the wind astern, with or without sails hoisted") anddrift ("a mass of matter driven or forced onward together in a body, etc., especially by wind or water"),[6] this is doubted by theScottish National Dictionary, becausespoondrift is attested later thanspindrift and it seems unlikely that the Scots spelling would have superseded the English one, and because the early use of the word in the formspenedrift byJames Melville (1556–1614) is unlikely to have derived fromspoondrift.[4] In any case,spindrift was popularized in England through its use in the novels of the Scottish-born authorWilliam Black (1841–1898).[5]
Spindrift orspoondrift is also used to refer to fine sand or snow that is blown off the ground by the wind.[5][6][7]
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