virga

[ vur-guh ]

/ ˈvɜr gə /

streaks of water drops or ice particles falling out of a cloud and evaporating before reaching the ground (distinguished from praecipitatio).

Origin of virga

1935–40; < Latin: rod, streak

In the Exchequer book an abbreviated form is used; but virga appears in i. 216 b.

Domesday Book and Beyond |Frederic William Maitland
In the middle ages the general literary term throughout Europe was coles (or colis) from caulis, a stalk, and virga, a rod.

Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 5 (of 6) |Havelock Ellis
A power less poetical but not less fabulous then the story of the Virga Fatalis that conducted neas to the Shades.

A Guide to the Mount's Bay and the Land's End |John Ayrton Paris
Ego vir videns paupertatem meam in virga indignationis ejus.

The Thoughts of Blaise Pascal |Blaise Pascal

Hence it follows that the quarter of an acre is a rood or yard or virga or virgata of land.

Domesday Book and Beyond |Frederic William Maitland

virga

/ (ˈvɜːɡə) /

(sometimes functioning as plural) meteorol wisps of rain or snow, seen trailing from clouds, that evaporate before reaching the earth

C20: from Latin: streak

virga

[ vûr′gə ]

Light wisps of precipitation streaming from a cloud but evaporating before reaching the ground, especially when the air below is low in humidity.