simoom

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a violently hot, dry, dust-laden wind that blows in the deserts of Arabia and North Africa

   The caravan halted as a suffocating simoom swept across the desert.

Borrowed from Arabic samūm ("hot or poisonous wind"), from a verb meaning "to poison." The name reflects the dangerous heat and choking dust associated with this desert wind.

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