zephyr

noun

1. A light wind from the west.
2. Any light refreshing wind; a gentle breeze.

   “O thou Goddeſſe, / Thou diuine Nature; thou^([sic – meaning how]) thy ſelfe thou blazon'ſt / In theſe two Princely Boyes: they are as gentle / As Zephires blowing below the Violet, / Not wagging his ſweet head; [...]”

   “The eaſterly or trade winds, which generally blow between the Tropics, are extremely refreſhing to the coaſt of Guiana, between the hours of eight or ten in the morning, and ſix o'clock in the evening, when they ceaſe to operate, and a zephyr is ſcarcely ever heard to whiſper during the night.”

   “The dusk of evening came on, soft in its solemnity, and unoppressive even in its gloom, under the sweet sky and unmolested zephyr, casting its pleasant shadows along the edges of the grove.”

   “It [a house] stood on a sharp bleak corner, where that tempestuous wind Euroclydon kept up a worse howling than ever it did about poor Paul's tossed craft. Euroclydon, nevertheless, is a mighty pleasant zephyr to any one in-doors, with his feet on the hob quietly toasting for bed.”

3. Anything of fine, soft, or light quality, especially fabric.

   “The world hummed and spun about him. There was a whirling of zephyr skirts, four impassioned faces sweeping towards the open door of the passage that ran through the vicarage. He felt his position went with them.”

4. A type of soft confectionery made by whipping fruit and berry purée (mostly apple purée) with sugar and egg whites with subsequent addition of a gelling agent like pectin, carrageenan, agar, or gelatine.

   “In 1953 the Russian Republic Ministry of the Food Products Industry increased confectionery output 10% above 1952, including wrapped and packaged confectionery 46%, chocolates 57%, toffee 65%, fruit preserves, pastilles and Zephyrs 20% and halva—by 36%.”

   “The French not only vastly expanded the Russian repertory of sauces, but they also introduced an entirely new range of light, airy desserts including creams, zephyrs, and mousses.”

   “For desserts there were “airy pie,” charlottes, mousses, kissel, plombir and “zephyrs.””

   “2 tablespoons beet juice (optional—include it if you’re nostalgic for pink zephyr)”

   “The Russian zephyr and bird’s milk fillings rely on agar as a gelling agent”

verb

1. (intransitive, poetic)To blow or move like a zephyr, or light breeze.

   “There was a time When the soft zephyring spring came joyfully, Like a young bride, with bloom upon her cheek—”

   “There was a sudden scrambling and thumping overhead and hot exclamations zephyred down to them.”

   “But there was a new afflation— / An aura zephyring round, / That care infected not: [...]”

2. (poetic, transitive)To blow or blow on gently like a zephyr; to cool or refresh with a gentle breeze.

   “1849, letter from Leonidas Lent Hamline dated 15 December, 1849, in Walter Clark Palmer, Life and Letters of Leonidas L. Hamline, D.D., New York: Carlton & Porter, 1866, Chapter 15, p. 361, He was a fragrant poison, a zephyred pestilence spread through all the city.”

   “1914, Leonard Lanson Cline, untitled sonnet in Poems, Boston: The Poet Lore Company, p. 76, Ah, but the skies are joyous in the spring, From dawn to dusk exuberantly blue; White-tufted oftentimes with clouds that do But wanton in heaven’s zephyred merrying!”

   “1914, Juliane Paulsen (pseudonym of Juliane Grace Hansen), “Poppy Fantasy” in And Then Came Spring, Boston: The Gorham Press, p. 49, Oh, graciously she led my soul within Where ever and forever went a wind In zephyred streams of poppies coursing sweet About the place, and waves of poppy heat About us there.”

name

1. (Greek)The god of the West Wind.

   “For a Tempeſt. Take Eurus, Zephyr, Auſter and Boreas, and caſt them together in one Verſe. Add to theſe of Rain, Lightning, and of Thunder (the loudeſt you can) quantum ſufficit. Mix your Clouds and Billows well together till they foam, and thicken your Deſcription here and there with a Quickſand. Brew your Tempeſt well in your Head, before you ſet it a blowing.”

2. (poetic)The west wind personified.
3. A surname.

   “Even as her Republican peers sought to isolate her in the wake of her impassioned comments against a proposed ban on what doctors call gender-affirming medical care for children, Ms. Zephyr said she would not remain idle.”