Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A dry dusty wind that blows along the northwest coast of Africa.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun An intensely dry land-wind felt on the coast of Africa between Cape Verd and Cape Lopez.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A dry, hot wind, prevailing on the Atlantic coast of Africa, in December, January, and February, blowing from the interior or Sahara. It is usually accompanied by a haze which obscures the sun.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Parching dust-bearing land-
wind on coast of Upper Guinea in December, January & February.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a dusty wind from the Sahara that blows toward the western coast of Africa during the winter
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[Akan (Twi) haramata, possibly from Arabic ḥarām, evil thing, from ḥarama, to prohibit; see x̣rm in Semitic roots.]
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
This definition is lacking an etymology or has an incomplete etymology. You can help Wiktionary by giving it a proper etymology.
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Examples
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chained_bear commented on the word harmattan
"'...they tell me that the dry season is at hand, when the air, though hotter by far on occasion, is perfectly dry... Dry, and sometimes accompanied by an interesting wind, the harmattan; though that may also be the name of the season itself...'"
--P. O'Brian, The Commodore, 207
March 18, 2008
knitandpurl commented on the word harmattan
"The noonday sun could send temperatures soaring to a hundred and fifteen degrees and a hot harmattan wind blew down from the desert."
- "The Great Oasis" by Burkhard Bilger, p 116 of the December 19 & 26, 2011 issue of the New Yorker
January 1, 2012