limbat

English

Etymology

From French limbat, a rebracketing of l’imbat, from Ottoman Turkish امبات (imbat, “sea breeze”). Doublet of imbat.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlɪmbæt/

Noun

limbat

1. (obsolete) A periodic cooling wind in Cyprus, blowing from the northwest.
   • 1797, Robert Heron, A Collection of Late Voyages and Travels:

     The heats increase as the summer advances, and would be altogether intolerable, if a cooling wind called limbat did not arise.

   • 1807, Andrew Mackay, The Complete Navigator:

     There are various other periodical winds: of these, however, that generally known by the name of limbat, which is common in the island of Cyprus, shall only be mentioned here.

   • 1878, Frederic Henry Fisher, Cyprus, Our New Colony and What We Know About It‎^[1], pages 59–60:

     The intensity of the summer heat is, however, modified after a time by a cooling wind which [Giovanni] Mariti calls limbat. […] This limbat wind is said to be the cause of those fevers which attack the inhabitants, to which Europeans are even more subject.

Anagrams

• timbal