Other forms: gusts, gusting, gusted
A gust is one sudden strong push of wind, briefer than a wind and stronger than a breeze. A gust of wind took the umbrella. Gusts of up to sixty miles an hour.
The word is standard in weather forecasting, where gusting to is the fixed phrase for the peak speed within a wind. It is countable, unlike wind, which is why you can have three gusts and not three winds. There is a figurative use with feelings — a gust of anger, a gust of laughter — meaning a short violent burst, and it is literary rather than everyday. The adjective gusty describes weather with frequent gusts.
1noungustA sudden strong rush of wind.
“A gust caught the door and slammed it.”
2verbblowOf wind, to blow in sudden strong rushes.
“It was gusting hard by the time we got back.”
3nounbriefA sudden brief burst of feeling or sound.
“A gust of laughter came from the next room.”
gust is a burst of wind.
Old Norse gustr, a blast, comes from a root meaning to pour or gush — the same family as gush and geyser. A gust of wind and a gush of water are described by the same ancient idea of something coming out suddenly.
Proto-Indo-European
*ǵʰew-
Proto-Germanic
*gustiz
Old Norse
gustr — a gust, blast
Middle English
*gust
English, today
gust
Apparently from an unrecorded Middle English gust, from Old Norse gustr (“a gust, blast”), from Proto-Germanic gustiz, from Proto-Indo-European ǵʰew-. Cognate with Icelandic gustur (“gust of wind”). Related also to Old Norse gusa (“to gush forth”), Old High German gussa (“flood”), Middle English guschen (> English gush). The English word was not recorded before Shakespeare.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA