shower
pronunciation
How to pronounce shower in British English:
UK [ˈʃaʊə(r)]
How to pronounce shower in American English:
US [ˈʃaʊər]
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- Noun:
- a plumbing fixture that sprays water over you
- washing yourself in a shower; you stand upright under water sprayed from a nozzle
- a brief period of precipitation
- a sudden downpour (as of tears or sparks etc) likened to a rain shower
- someone who organizes an exhibit for others to see
- a party of friends assembled to present gifts (usually of a specified kind) to a person
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- Verb:
- expend profusely; also used with abstract nouns
- spray or sprinkle with
- take a shower; wash one's body in the shower
- rain abundantly
- provide abundantly with
Word Origin
- shower
- shower: [OE] Shower comes from a prehistoric West Germanic *skūra, which also produced German schauer and Dutch schoer. Its ultimate ancestry is uncertain.
- shower (n.1)
- Old English scur "a short fall of rain, storm, tempest; fall of missiles or blows; struggle, commotion; breeze," from Proto-Germanic *skuraz (cognates: Old Norse skur, Old Saxon and Old Frisian scur "fit of illness;" Old High German scur, German Schauer "shower, downpour;" Gothic skura, in skura windis "windstorm"), from PIE root *kew-(e)ro- "north, north wind" (cognates: Latin caurus "northwest wind;" Old Church Slavonic severu "north, north wind;" Lithuanian šiaurus "raging, stormy," šiaurys "north wind," šiaure "north"). Of blood, tears, etc., from c. 1400. Of meteors from 1835. Sense of "bath in which water is poured from above" first recorded 1851 (short for shower-bath, itself attested from 1803). Meaning "large number of gifts bestowed on a bride" (1904, American English colloquial) later was extended to the party at which it happens (1926). Shower curtain attested from 1914.
- shower (v.)
- 1570s, "come down in showers;" 1580s, "to discharge a shower," from shower (n.1). Intransitive sense from 1930. Related: Showered; showering.
- shower (n.2)
- "one who shows," Old English sceawere "spectator, watchtower, mirror," agent noun; see show (v.).
Example
- 1. The horizontal shower - the worst invention ever ?
- 2. The shower is a vertical tube by the front door .
- 3. The shower itself was a photogenic magnificence , an intricate twist of chrome contraptions and knobs .
- 4. Where as a shower will only use a third of this amount .
- 5. She 'll sit outside the shower until he is done .