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prettygoodwordderecho (dey-REY-choh) - n., a widespread, long-lived, straight-line windstorm that is associated with a fast-moving band of severe thunderstorms.
The key aspect here being the straight-line part, in contrast to tornadoes -- though the thunderstorms of a derecho can also spawn twisters. This usage was coined in English in 1888 by meteorologist Gustavus Detlef Hinrichs in a paper describing an 1877 derecho in Iowa from American Spanish derecho, which has a meanings all along the spectrum of right (direction), right (correct), upright, straight, road, and law -- of which the straight/direct sense is the most important of the Latin root dīrectus.
---L.
The key aspect here being the straight-line part, in contrast to tornadoes -- though the thunderstorms of a derecho can also spawn twisters. This usage was coined in English in 1888 by meteorologist Gustavus Detlef Hinrichs in a paper describing an 1877 derecho in Iowa from American Spanish derecho, which has a meanings all along the spectrum of right (direction), right (correct), upright, straight, road, and law -- of which the straight/direct sense is the most important of the Latin root dīrectus.
---L.
