Sirocco

noun

Etymology

• Italian: scirocco = the south-east wind; (from Arabic)
• Arabic: sharaga = (the sun) arose <-needs transliteration into Arabic script->

Noun

1. A strong southerly to southeasterly wind on the Mediterranean that originates in the Sahara and adjacent North African regions.
   • 1814 George Gordon, Lord Byron Corsair, i:14

     But come, the board is spread ; our silver lamp / Is trimm'd, and heeds not the sorocco's damp.

2. A draft of hot air from an artificial source of heat.
   • 2003, Erik Larson, The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America, Random House, ISBN 0609608444, page 113:

     In the hearth at the north wall a large fire cracked and lisped, flushing the room with a dry sirocco that caused frozen skin to tingle.