williwaw \WIL-ee-waw\,
noun: a violent squall that blows in near-polar latitudes, as in the Strait of Magellan, Alaska, and the Aleutian Islands.
Outside, a new note has crept into the wind, a black williwaw sound straight from the terrible wastes to the north.
-- Walker Percy, "The Moviegoer," 1961
There was a big williwaw blowing and nothing was moving on the island. So I was a couple of days late in leaving…
-- Edited by Fern Chandonnet, "Alaska at War, 1941-1945: The Forgotten War Remembered," 2007
Williwaw entered English in the 1830s. It is of unknown origin.
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