sleet

• POS: Noun, Verb (intransitive)

CIDE DICTIONARY

sleet, n. 

 The part of a mortar extending from the chamber to the trunnions.  [1913 Webster]

sleet, n. [OE. sleet; akin to MHG. slz, slze hailstone, G. schlosse; of uncertain origin.].

 Hail or snow, mingled with rain, usually falling, or driven by the wind, in fine particles.  [1913 Webster]

sleet, v. i. 

 To snow or hail with a mixture of rain.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

sleet, n. & v.
--n.
1 a mixture of snow and rain falling together.
2 hail or snow melting as it falls.
3 US a thin coating of ice.
--v.intr. (prec. by it as subject) sleet falls (it is sleeting; if it sleets).

Derivative

sleety adj.

Etymology

ME prob. f. OE: rel. to MLG sloten (pl.) hail, MHG sloz(e) f. Gmc

THESAURUS

sleet

Dry Ice, berg, calf, cryosphere, firn, floe, frazil, frost, frozen water, glaciation, glacier, glacieret, glaze, glazed frost, granular snow, ground ice, growler, hail, ice, ice banner, ice barrier, ice belt, ice cave, ice cubes, ice dike, ice field, ice floe, ice foot, ice front, ice island, ice needle, ice over, ice pack, ice pinnacle, ice raft, ice sheet, ice up, iceberg, icefall, icequake, icicle, jokul, lolly, neve, nieve penitente, pack ice, serac, shelf ice, slob, sludge, snow, snow ice, snow in, snow under, snowberg

ROGET THESAURUS

sleet

Cold

N cold, coldness, frigidity, inclemency, fresco, winter, depth of winter, hard winter, Siberia, Nova Zembla, wind- chill factor, ice, snow, snowflake, snow crystal, snow drift, sleet, hail, hailstone, rime, frost, hoar frost, white frost, hard frost, sharp frost, barf, glaze, lolly, icicle, thick-ribbed ice, fall of snow, heavy fall, iceberg, icefloe, floe berg, glacier, nev_ee, serac, pruina, freezing mixture, dry ice, liquid nitrogen, liquid helium, chilliness, chill, shivering, goose skin, horripilation, rigor, chattering of teeth, numbness, frostbite, cold, cool, chill, chilly, icy, gelid, frigid, algid, fresh, keen, bleak, raw, inclement, bitter, biting, niveous, cutting, nipping, piercing, pinching, clay-cold, starved, chilled to the bone, shivering, aguish, transi de froid, frostbitten, frost-bound, frost-nipped, cold as a stone, cold as marble, cold as lead, cold as iron, cold as a frog, cold as charity, cold as Christmas, cool as a cucumber, cool as custard, icy, glacial, frosty, freezing, pruinose, wintry, brumal, hibernal, boreal, arctic, Siberian, hyemal, hyperborean, hyperboreal, icebound, frozen out, unwarmed, unthawed, lukewarm, tepid, isocheimal, isocheimenal, isocheimic, frozen, numb, frost-bitten, coldly, bitterly, pierre fendre.