cloudburst

• cloud-burst

cloud +‎ burst

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈklaʊdˌbɝst/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈklaʊdˌbɜːst/

• Audio (AU)

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• Hyphenation: cloud‧burst

cloudburst (plural cloudbursts)

1. A sudden heavy rainstorm.
   • 1899, Edith Wharton, "A Cup of Cold Water" in The Greater Inclination:

     [B]ut the sound . . . expressed an utter abandonment to grief; not the cloud-burst of some passing emotion, but the slow down-pour of a whole heaven of sorrow.

   • 1908, Stewart Edward White, chapter 38, in The Riverman:

     A cloudburst in the China Creek district followed by continued heavy rains was responsible for the increased water.

   • 1936 Aug. 17, "Miscellany," Time (retrieved 20 May 2014):

     In Uniontown, Pa., John Walchesky & family rushed from their house when lightning set it afire, rushed in again when a cloudburst put out the blaze.

   • 2007 Feb. 25, Norman Howard, "Devotion, chapter 1" (book excerpt), New York Times (retrieved 20 May 2014):

     [H]e walked across the lawn, wet from a fleeting late-afternoon cloudburst, the first rain in a month.

• cloudbust