trade wind

noun

steady winds blowing from east to west above and below the equator

-

they rode the trade winds going west

• Syn: ↑trade

• Hypernyms: ↑prevailing wind

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noun

Etymology: trade (IV)

: a wind blowing almost constantly in one direction; especially : a wind that blows almost continually toward the equator from the northeast in the belt between the northern horse latitudes and the doldrums and from the southeast in the belt between the southern horse latitudes and the doldrums and is produced as a result of the rotation of the earth and movement of the air toward the equatorial regions during circulation between the warmer and colder portions of the earth — called also trade; compare antitrades, monsoon

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/wind/

1. Also trade winds. Also called trades. any of the nearly constant easterly winds that dominate most of the tropics and subtropics throughout the world, blowing mainly from the northeast in the Northern Hemisphere, and from the southeast in the Southern Hemisphere.

2. any wind that blows in one regular course, or continually in the same direction.

[1625-35]

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trade wind noun

A wind blowing toward the thermal equator and deflected westward by the eastward rotation of the earth

• • •

Main Entry: ↑trade

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trade wind UK [ˈtreɪd ˌwɪnd] US noun [countable] [singular trade wind plural trade winds]

a wind that blows continuously towards the equator (=the imaginary line around the middle of the Earth)

Thesaurus: types of wind_hyponym words used to describe windy weather_synonym

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trade wind,

1. a wind blowing steadily toward the equator from about 30 degrees north latitude or from about 30 degrees south latitude. North of the equator, it blows from the northeast; south of the equator, from the southeast.

2. Obsolete. any wind that blows steadily in the same direction at sea.

╂[< trade in obsolete sense of “habitual course”]

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[wind]

n. a wind blowing steadily toward the equator from the northeast in the northern hemisphere or the southeast in the southern hemisphere, esp. at sea. Two belts of trade winds encircle the earth, blowing from the tropical high-pressure belts to the low-pressure zone at the equator

Origin:

mid 17th cent.: from the phrase blow trade ‘blow steadily in the same direction’. Because of the importance of these winds to navigation, 18th-cent. etymologists were led erroneously to connect the word trade with "commerce."

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noun, pl ⋯ winds [count]

: a wind that blows almost constantly to the west and towards the equator

— usually plural

sailors who followed the trade winds