zephyr

A light wind from the west.

The Western [winds] have been Counted the mildest, & most Auspicious of all others; and were so highly in favour with the Poets, that they thought them worthy of the Golden Age, and to refresh the Elysian groves. [...] But though the Breathing Zephyrs are so much celebrated in Poems and Romances, and happily were kinder to the delicious countries of Italy, & Greece, yet wee find no lesse malignity in their natures from particular accidents and climats, then what wee have observ’d of other Winds.

Any light refreshing wind; a gentle breeze.

O thou Goddeſſe, / Thou diuine Nature; thou^([sic – meaning how]) thy ſelfe thou blazon'ſt / In theſe two Princely Boyes: they are as gentle / As Zephires blowing below the Violet, / Not wagging his ſweet head; [...]

The eaſterly or trade winds, which generally blow between the Tropics, are extremely refreſhing to the coaſt of Guiana, between the hours of eight or ten in the morning, and ſix o'clock in the evening, when they ceaſe to operate, and a zephyr is ſcarcely ever heard to whiſper during the night.

Anything of fine, soft, or light quality, especially fabric.

The world hummed and spun about him. There was a whirling of zephyr skirts, four impassioned faces sweeping towards the open door of the passage that ran through the vicarage. He felt his position went with them.

A type of soft confectionery made by whipping fruit and berry purée (mostly apple purée) with sugar and egg whites with subsequent addition of a gelling agent like pectin, carrageenan, agar, or gelatine.

In 1953 the Russian Republic Ministry of the Food Products Industry increased confectionery output 10% above 1952, including wrapped and packaged confectionery 46%, chocolates 57%, toffee 65%, fruit preserves, pastilles and Zephyrs 20% and halva—by 36%.

The French not only vastly expanded the Russian repertory of sauces, but they also introduced an entirely new range of light, airy desserts including creams, zephyrs, and mousses.

To blow or move like a zephyr, or light breeze.

There was a time When the soft zephyring spring came joyfully, Like a young bride, with bloom upon her cheek—

There was a sudden scrambling and thumping overhead and hot exclamations zephyred down to them.

To blow or blow on gently like a zephyr; to cool or refresh with a gentle breeze.

1849, letter from Leonidas Lent Hamline dated 15 December, 1849, in Walter Clark Palmer, Life and Letters of Leonidas L. Hamline, D.D., New York: Carlton & Porter, 1866, Chapter 15, p. 361, He was a fragrant poison, a zephyred pestilence spread through all the city.

1914, Leonard Lanson Cline, untitled sonnet in Poems, Boston: The Poet Lore Company, p. 76, Ah, but the skies are joyous in the spring, From dawn to dusk exuberantly blue; White-tufted oftentimes with clouds that do But wanton in heaven’s zephyred merrying!

The god of the West Wind.

For a Tempeſt. Take Eurus, Zephyr, Auſter and Boreas, and caſt them together in one Verſe. Add to theſe of Rain, Lightning, and of Thunder (the loudeſt you can) quantum ſufficit. Mix your Clouds and Billows well together till they foam, and thicken your Deſcription here and there with a Quickſand. Brew your Tempeſt well in your Head, before you ſet it a blowing.

The west wind personified.

A surname.

Even as her Republican peers sought to isolate her in the wake of her impassioned comments against a proposed ban on what doctors call gender-affirming medical care for children, Ms. Zephyr said she would not remain idle.