si|roc|co

si|roc|co «suh ROK oh», noun, plural -cos.

1. a very hot, dry, and dust-laden wind blowing from the northern coast of Africa across the Mediterranean and parts of southern Europe: »

Rain is followed usually by the sirocco—the hot wind from Africa—and the ground is quickly parched and cracked (Atlantic).

2. a moist, warm, south or southeast wind in these same regions: »

Sometimes the sirocco extends to the northern shore of the Mediterranean where it becomes a warm and moist wind (Thomas A. Blair).

3. any hot, unpleasant wind: »

The slow self-service elevator was an asphyxiating chamber with a fan that blew a withering sirocco (New Yorker).

╂[< Italian scirocco < Arabic sharqī east wind]