Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner's English Dictionary - weather

(weathers, weathering, weathered) Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English. 1. The weather is the condition of the atmosphere in one area at a particular time, for example if it is raining, hot, or windy. The weather was bad... I like cold weather... Fishing is possible in virtually any weather. ...the weather conditions. N-UNCOUNT 2. If something such as wood or rock weathers or is weathered, it changes colour or shape as a result of the wind, sun, rain, or cold. Unpainted wooden furniture weathers to a grey colour... This rock has been weathered and eroded. VERB: V, be V-ed, also V n • weathered The facade of the building was a little weathered... The man had a worn, weathered face. = weather-beaten ADJ 3. If you weather a difficult time or a difficult situation, you survive it and are able to continue normally after it has passed or ended. The government has weathered its worst political crisis. to weather the storm: see storm VERB: V n 4. If you say that someone is making heavy weather of a task, you are critical of them because they are doing it in an inefficient way and are making it seem more difficult than it really is. (BRIT) Some of the riders in this section made heavy weather of the cross-country race. PHRASE: V inflects, PHR n c darkgreen]disapproval 5. If you say that you are under the weather, you mean that you feel slightly ill. I was still feeling a bit under the weather. = unwell PHRASE: v-link PHR