What does weatherglass mean?
A weatherglass is an old-fashioned instrument for observing changes in the weather, normally a barometer based on a column of mercury. By showing whether atmospheric pressure is rising or falling, it gave mariners, farmers, and households a practical indication of likely changes long before electronic forecasting. The word combines weather and glass because early instruments used a glass tube to display the movement of liquid. Today it is mainly literary, historical, or descriptive of an antique barometer, and it can sound picturesque or nostalgic. Although related decorative devices are often called storm glasses, a weatherglass is best understood more broadly as a traditional weather-measuring instrument. It remains useful in discussions of maritime history, meteorology, and the culture of everyday scientific instruments, where the familiar image of mercury rising or falling makes an abstract atmospheric process visible.
nounA traditional barometer or similar instrument for indicating changes in atmospheric pressure and thus in the weather. The term especially evokes an antique instrument with a glass tube containing mercury.
- An instrument, especially a mercury barometer, used to indicate changes in atmospheric pressure and the weather.
"Before setting out, he checked the weatherglass and saw that the mercury had fallen."
"The old brass weatherglass on the mantelpiece showed that the atmospheric pressure was falling."
"The captain's log recorded the weatherglass falling shortly before the storm struck."
The standard regular plural adds -es to the complete compound.
"Two antique weatherglasses flank the fireplace."
Before invisible forecasts and digital screens, a weatherglass made the movement of the air visible through rising or falling mercury.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of weatherglass
Weatherglass is an English compound formed from weather and glass. The compound has been attested since the 17th century, when glass-column barometers were familiar instruments for comparing atmospheric pressure. Its first element belongs to the established word family represented by weather, weathercock, and weatherwise, while glass is an inherited noun denoting the transparent material of the instrument.
How weatherglass is actually used
The closed form is now chiefly literary, historical, or descriptive of an antique barometer. The two-word form “weather glass” is also standard and more familiar in modern English.
Easily confused with weatherglass
A storm glass is a sealed decorative vessel containing a liquid whose appearance may change with atmospheric conditions, whereas a weatherglass is more commonly a traditional barometer that measures air pressure.