mistral
\ MIS-truhl, mi-STRAHL \ , noun;
1.a cold, dry, northerly wind common in southern France and neighboring regions.
Quotes:
The mistral determines much of the region's architecture, from the windowless north-facing walls of the mas (the typical Provencal farmhouses) to the cagelike bell towers that allow the wind to pass harmlessly through.
-- Alexandra Bonfante-Warren, "Timeless Places: Provence ," 1999
The mistral made travelling impossible. We sat in the train going past platforms where the acacias and cypresses were plastered back by the wind and where even the names of the stations seemed fretted by the mistral ; Agde, Leucate, Fitou, Palau del Vidre.
-- Cyril Connolly," Enemies of Promise ," 1938
Origin:
Mistral is derived from the French word of the same spelling which referred to wind from the north-west.
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