1594. Shakspeare, 2 Henry VI., v. 1. But I must MAKE FAIR WEATHER yet awhile, 'Till Henry be more weak, and I more strong. Ibid. (1600), Much Ado, i. 3. He hath ta'en you newly into his grace; where it is impossible you should take root, but by the fair weather that you make yourself.
1598. Marston, Scourge of Villanie, i. And by an holy semblance bleare men's eyes When he intends some damned villanies. Ixion makes faire weather unto Jove, That he might make foule worke with his faire love, And is right sober in his outward semblance, Demure and modest in his countenance.
1865. Dickens, Mutual Friend, II. v. Keep your weather eye awake, and don't make any more acquaintances, however handsome.
d. 1878. Bowles [Merriam, II. 49]. Since 1 went to Washington . . . I have been quite under the weather, and have had to neglect everything.
1903. Hyne, Filibusters, iv. By way of being on the safe side I am going to KEEP MY WEATHER-EYE LIFTING for everything that's unpleasant.
Weather-breeder, subs. phr. (American).—A hot day: which often precedes and 'prepares' a storm.
1888. Eggleston, Roxy, xiii. 'It's a . . . nice day,' growled Adam, 'but a WEATHER-BREEDER.'
Weathercock, subs. (old colloquial).—A fickle, inconstant, vacillating person.
1596. Shakspeare, Merry Wives, iii. 2. Where had you this pretty WEATHERCOCK?
1638. Randolph, Amyntas, i. 1. What pretty weathercocks these women are.
1672. Dryden, Conquest of Granada, I. iii. 1. The word which I have given shall stand like fate, Not like the King's, that weather-cock of State.
c. 1709. Ward, London Spy [Century]. They are Men whose Conditions are subject to more Revolutions than a Weathercock, or the Uncertain Mind of a Fantastical Woman.
Weatherdog, subs. (provincial).—A rainbow, fragmentary and only partly visible: regarded as a presage instead of a concomitant of rain.
Weathergage, subs. (old).—Advantage, the upper hand: cf. windward. Whence to get the weathergage = to command, control, have the best of.
1813. Scott, Rokeby, vi. 24. The line of Rokeby once combined with mine I gain the weather-gage of fate. Ibid. (1819), Ivanhoe, i. 13. Take a turn round the back o' the hill to gain the wind on them; and when thou'st got the weather-*gage thou mayst drive them before thee.
Weather-headed. See Wether-*headed.
Weather-scupper, subs. phr. (nautical).—'It is an old joke at sea to advise a greenhorn to get a handspike and hold it down hard in the weather-scuppers to steady the ship's wild motions' (Clark Russell).
Weather-spy, subs. phr. (old).—A weather-prophet: spec. an astrologer.
d. 1631. Donne, Satires, i. A gulling WEATHER-SPY.
Weave (Hotten).—1. When a knowing blade is asked what he has been doing lately, and does not choose to tell, he replies, 'Weaving leather aprons.' (From the reports of a celebrated trial for gold robbery on the South-Western Railway.) Similar replies are, 'Making a trundle for a goose's eye,' or a 'whim-wham to bridle a goose.' Sometimes a man will describe himself as 'a doll's-eye weaver.'
