shower

From Middle English shour, from Old English scūr, from Proto-Germanic *skūrō, probably from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ḱēwer- (“north; north wind; cold wind; rain shower”). Cognate with Dutch schoer, German Schauer, Norwegian skur.

• (UK) enPR: shou'ər, IPA^(key): /ˈʃaʊ.ə(ɹ)/
• (US) enPR: shou'ər, IPA^(key): /ˈʃaʊ.ɚ/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aʊ.ə(ɹ)
• Rhymes: -aʊə(ɹ)

shower (plural showers)

1. A brief fall of precipitation.

   Today there will be frequent showers and some sunny spells.

2. A device for bathing by which water is made to fall on the body from a height, either from a tank or by the action of a pump.
3. An instance of using of this device in order to bathe oneself.

   I′m going to have a shower.

   (UK, Australia)

   I′m going to take a shower.

   (especially US)

4. A quantity of something that has characteristics of a rain shower.

   a shower of sparks;  a meteor shower;  a Gatorade shower

5. A party associated with a significant event in a person's life, at which the person usually receives gifts.

   Would male strippers be appropriate for the divorce shower?

   Her church group has planned an adoption shower.

   1. A bridal shower.

      The shower will be held at the home of the bridesmaid.

   2. A baby shower.

      Her friends are throwing her a shower after her mom leaves.

6. (obsolete) A battle, an attack; conflict.
   • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter xiiij, in Le Morte Darthur, book XX:

     With this I maye be sure to come sauf / and goo sauf / and that the quene shal haue her lyberte as she had before / and neuer for no thynge that hath ben surmysed afore this tyme / she neuer fro this day stande in no peryll / for els sayd sir launcelot I dare auenture me to kepe her from an harder shoure than euer I kepte her

7. (chiefly Ireland, Britain, Australia, derogatory) A shower of shit.
   • 1956, Private's Progress (motion picture):

     You all behaved like a shower, now you are to be treated like a shower

8. (chiefly Ireland, euphemistic, derogatory, with of and an invective) Used as an intensifying pluralizer or intensifier
   • 1991, Allen Feldman, Formations of Violence: The Narrative of the Body and Political Terror in Northern Ireland, page 208 (University of Chicago Press; →ISBN, 9780226240718)

     It was one of the worst feelings in the H-Block, one of the worst experiences to sit and listen to somebody getting beat. Because you were totally powerless, and you would always get somebody shouting at the door, “You shower of bastards!” It was always a crowd of screws and one or two naked men in a cell. They had total control.

• (device for bathing): shower bath
• (instance of use): shower bath

shower (third-person singular simple present showers, present participle showering, simple past and past participle showered)

1. (followed by with) To spray with (a specified liquid).
2. To bathe using a shower.
3. To bestow liberally, to give or distribute in abundance
   • 1919, Boris Sidis, The Source and Aim of Human Progress:

     The individual in the army becomes used to holding human life in contempt, in fact the greater the slaughter, the greater is his merit; and the more medals, ribbons, and honors of hero-worship are showered on him, the more he becomes, after a time, indifferent to all sorts of human suffering and loss of human life.

4. (intransitive) To rain in a shower; to cascade down.

• (bathe using a shower): have a shower (British), take a shower (especially US)

• show +‎ -er

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈʃəʊ.ə(ɹ)/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈʃoʊ.ɚ/

shower (plural showers)

1. One who shows.
2. some object or activity that is shown in a contest

   Example: That calf is going to be a great shower at the fair this year

3. (slang) A man whose penis appears roughly full size both when flaccid and when erect.

   Antonym: grower

• show

• shower on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Shower (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• Howser, Whoser, howers, reshow, whores

shower

1. indefinite plural of show