I. rain 1 S2 W2 /reɪn/ BrE AmE noun
[ Language: Old English ; Origin: regn ]
1 . [uncountable] water that falls in small drops from clouds in the sky:
a night of wind and rain
There will be heavy rain in most parts of the country.
in the rain
I left my bicycle out in the rain.
⇨ ↑ acid rain , ↑ rain drop , ↑ rainy
2 . the rains heavy rain that falls during a particular period in the year in tropical countries ⇨ monsoon :
Last year, the rains came on time in April.
3 . rain of something a large number of things falling or moving through the air together:
The archers sent a rain of arrows towards the enemy.
4 . (come) rain or shine spoken whatever happens or whatever the weather is like:
Don’t worry. We’ll be there – rain or shine.
—rainless adjective
⇨ right as rain at ↑ right 1 (9)
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COLLOCATIONS
■ ADJECTIVES/NOUN + rain
▪ heavy (=with a lot of water coming down)
The rain became more heavy.
▪ light (=with little water coming down)
A light rain began to fall.
▪ torrential (=very heavy)
I woke to the sound of torrential rain.
▪ pouring rain (=very heavy rain)
He left us standing in the pouring rain.
▪ driving rain (=heavy rain that is falling fast or being blown along)
They struggled to walk against driving rain.
▪ freezing rain (=extremely cold rain)
the icy wind and freezing rain
▪ fine rain (=very gentle rain)
A fine rain was coming down as the game started.
▪ acid rain (=which contains pollution from factories)
forests which have been damaged by acid rain
■ verbs
▪ the rain falls
The rain was still falling steadily.
▪ the rain comes down (=it falls)
If the rain starts coming down, we can always go inside.
|
The monsoon rain comes down in sheets.
▪ the rain stops
They went into a cafe and waited for the rain to stop.
▪ the rain eases off (=it starts to rain less)
The rain should ease off in a minute.
▪ the rain pours down (=a lot of rain comes down)
The rain was pouring down and I was quickly soaked.
▪ the rain pelts down (=it comes down fast)
The rain was now pelting down.
▪ the rain beats/lashes (=it falls or hits something with a lot of force)
Isabel listened to the rain beating down.
▪ the rain patters on something (=drops of rain hit something and make a sound)
Rain pattered on the roof.
▪ get caught in the rain (=be outside when it starts raining)
Did you get caught in the rain?
■ phrases
▪ it is pouring with rain British English , it is pouring rain American English (=a lot of rain is falling)
When we went outside it was pouring with rain.
▪ it looks like rain (=rain appears likely because there are dark clouds in the sky)
We ate indoors because it looked like rain.
▪ a drop of rain
Robert felt a drop of rain on his face.
▪ an inch/25mm etc of rain
Two inches of rain fell in twelve hours.
▪ outbreaks of rain (=short periods of rain – used in weather forecasts)
Outbreaks of rain will spread across northern parts.
▪ a rain shower ( also a shower of rain British English ) (=a short period of rain)
a heavy shower of rain accompanied by lightning
▪ sheets of rain (=large moving masses of heavy rain)
He drove home slowly, through sheets of rain.
▪ a rain cloud
Thick black rain clouds massed in the sky.
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THESAURUS
▪ rain noun [uncountable] water that falls in small drops from clouds in the sky:
The rain has stopped at last.
|
There had been heavy rain during the night.
▪ drizzle noun [uncountable] light rain with very small drops of water:
A light drizzle was falling as I left the house.
▪ shower noun [countable] a short period of rain that can be heavy or light:
More heavy showers are forecast for tonight.
|
a light shower of rain
▪ downpour noun [countable usually singular] a short period of very heavy rain that starts suddenly:
A sudden downpour sent us running for shelter.
|
a torrential downpour
▪ hail noun [uncountable] frozen rain that falls in the form of ↑ hailstone s (=small balls of ice) :
The hail and high winds have destroyed many of the county’s crops.
▪ sleet noun [uncountable] a mixture of snow and rain:
The rain had turned to sleet
|
Sleet and snow fell.
▪ the rains noun [plural] heavy rain that falls during a particular period in the year in tropical countries:
The farmers are waiting for the rains to come.
▪ monsoon noun [countable ] the heavy rain that falls between April and October in India and other southern Asian countries:
The monsoon is late this year.
|
the monsoon season
II. rain 2 S3 BrE AmE verb
1 . it rains if it rains, drops of water fall from clouds in the sky:
Outside it was still raining.
It’s starting to rain.
rain heavily/hard
It must have rained quite hard last night.
it’s raining cats and dogs spoken (=it is raining very hard)
2 . rain (down) blows/blows rain down if you rain blows onto someone, you hit them many times:
She attacked the man, raining blows on his head and shoulders.
3 . it never rains but it pours spoken used to say that as soon as one thing goes wrong, a lot of other things go wrong as well
• • •
COLLOCATIONS
■ adverbs
▪ it rains heavily/hard (=a lot of water comes down)
It was raining heavily when we arrived in New York.
▪ it rains non-stop/solidly/steadily (=without stopping)
It rained solidly every single day.
▪ it rains slightly/lightly (=a little water comes down)
It’s raining slightly, but we can still go out.
■ verbs
▪ it starts raining/it starts to rain
It had started to rain again.
▪ it stops raining
Has it stopped raining?
■ phrases
▪ it is raining cats and dogs informal (=it is raining very hard – this phrase sounds rather old-fashioned)
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THESAURUS
▪ it’s raining drops of water are falling from the sky:
It’s raining – you’d better take an umbrella.
▪ it’s pouring (down) British English , it’s pouring (rain) American English it is raining very heavily:
We stayed at home because it was pouring down all day.
▪ it’s chucking it down British English informal it is raining very heavily:
Outside it was chucking it down and the streets were deserted.
▪ it’s drizzling very gentle rain is falling:
It’s only drizzling – let’s go for a walk anyway.
▪ it’s hailing frozen rain in the form of small balls of ice are falling:
It had been hailing and the roads were still slippery.
rain down phrasal verb
to fall in large quantities
rain down on
Bombs rained down on the city.
be rained off British English , be rained out American English phrasal verb
if an event or activity is rained off or rained out, it has to stop because there is too much rain:
The match was rained off.