sirocco

[ suh-rok-oh ]

/ səˈrɒk oʊ /

a hot, dry, dustladen wind blowing from northern Africa and affecting parts of southern Europe.

a warm, sultry south or southeast wind accompanied by rain, occurring in the same regions.

any hot, oppressive wind, especially one in the warm sector of a cyclone.

Also scirocco.

Origin of sirocco

1610–20; < Italian, variant of scirocco < Arabic sharq east

sirica, siricius, siris, sirius, sirloin, sirocco, sironize, siroset, sirrah, sirree, sirup

An invalid quickly loses appetite, courage, and even physical capacity to walk any distance, when the sirocco prevails.

The Story of Malta |Maturin M. Ballou
These winds have been given special names (mistral, sirocco, bora, &c.).

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 6, Slice 5 |Various
I remember well coming upon it one evening, breathless with sirocco, when all the world was gray and silver.

A Little Pilgrimage in Italy |Olave M. (Olave Muriel) Potter
The sirocco was gently blowing, the air was heavy, she was tired, she looked a little pale.

Roderick Hudson |Henry James

The sirocco of sorrow had fanned its hot breath over my soul; but, no grateful spring shower had cooled it through prayer.

She and I, Volume 2 |John Conroy Hutcheson

sirocco

/ (sɪˈrɒkəʊ) /

a hot oppressive and often dusty wind usually occurring in spring, beginning in N Africa and reaching S Europe

any hot southerly wind, esp one moving to a low pressure centre

C17: from Italian, from Arabic sharq east wind