DCHP-3

norther

DCHP-2 (Oct 2015)

Spelling variants:
Norther

n. — Newfoundland & Maritimes, somewhat dated

a freezing, violent wind from the north.

Type: 3. Semantic Change — In Newfoundland (and the Maritimes), a norther is a sudden, violent, cold wind that arrives from the north. OED-3 (s.v. "norther") marks the term as North American, with DAE (s.v. "Norther") listing the earliest American quotation from 1820. EDD (s.v. "Nowther"), however, defines the term as a wind that veers "round to the north". The earliest quotations (below from 1884), as well as in the DNE (from 1895), in clear contrast to the British English meaning, already refer to a wind from the north. The term is Canadian in the Atlantic Canadian context as it is tied to particular locations, referring to different winds. See, e.g. mainland for the same principle.
See also DNE, s.v. "norther" and OED-3, s.v. "norther", which is marked "Chiefly N. Amer.".

Quotations

1884
A shade came suddenly over the lake, and I thought I smelt a strange smell that often precedes a norther. I immediately turned away from the lake and looked toward the northwest, and I saw a small dark cloud passing like lightning, and I knew I must hurry home.
1905
After Christmas, when the rude old norther silences the music of the brooks, and strips the trees of their banners, and blots out the beauties of the landscape with his icy overalls; when the frost is cracking the nails on the outside, and everything is dark and cold and dreary, I intend taking an odd run to have a try for a fish [...].
1924
Then when the moisture drizzles from bargain counter cloud, and when the norther sizzles, and blizzard shrieks aloud, when sunshine doesn't function, the mem'ry of these days should be a soothing unction to all despondent jays.
1938
To the first stray beams of dawnlight, / To the fishes, to the heavens, / To his lean to in the hillside; / Hidden down a limestone fissure / From the roaring Winter's Northers.
1955
"I've been worried," Dan said at last. "But I don't get anywhere. Now there's a norther coming, and any chance of riding out for help is gone. Whatever we do, we got to do it ourselves."
1986
When the late fall northers howled behind a head of sleet and snow, Old Roy, who had seen enough Morrisburg winters, headed for sunny climes with his flock of new friends.
1996
You don't have to be crazy to fish, but sometimes it helps. Especially last Saturday morning, the long-awaited opening of trout season. Icy roads, snow squalls whipped by a biting norther and streams overflowing their banks, making the occasional chilling splashdown a near certainty for intrepid anglers.
2009
I remember riding across the open fields to school. It was four miles around the road, so we looked for short cuts. Sometimes, the storm would be upon us before the teacher realized and dismissed us. Old country schools had their windows on the east, to provide all the light they could, and a norther blowing in could be in full swing by the time we spotted it.

References

  • EDD
  • DAE
  • OED-3
  • DNE