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weathervane

UK/ˈwɛð.ə veɪn/US/ˈwɛð.ɚ veɪn/
nounC1Very rare — outside the 30,000 commonest English words, so you will meet it in writing rather than in speechleans written

Other forms: weathervanes

A weathervane is a turning pointer that shows which way the wind blows. A weathervane on the church.

It points into the wind, so a north wind turns the arrow to the north. A weathervane on a church is often a cockerel, by an old papal instruction.

Nevit Dilmen · CC BY-SA 3.0

Definitions of weathervane

  1. 1nounweathervaneA turning pointer that shows which way the wind blows.C1

    “The weathervane had not moved in a fortnight.”

weathervane is an instrument.

Practised in Weather & Seasons

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weathervane in the wild

  • Father Time is a weathervane at Lord's Cricket Ground, London, in the shape of Father Time removing the bails from a wicket.

    Father Time (Lord's)

  • The full weathervane is 6 ft 6 in tall, with the figure of Father Time standing at 5 ft 4 in.

    Father Time (Lord's)

  • Shem Drowne was a colonial coppersmith and tinplate worker in Boston, Massachusetts, and was America's first documented weathervane maker.

    Shem Drowne

  • Shortly after touchdown on runway 17L, the pilot lost directional control as the aircraft began to weathervane, and it departed the right side of the runway.

    American Airlines Flight 102

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.