Weather refers to the short term state of the atmosphere at a specific time and place, including the temperature, relative humidity, cloud cover, precipitation, wind, etc. It commonly describes unpleasant or destructive atmospheric conditions, and their effects, the direction from which the wind is blowing; used attributively to indicate the windward side, and a situation, which gives the term a broader and more practical sense than a single short definition would suggest. Depending on context, it can also point to a storm; a tempest, a light shower of rain, and facing towards the flow of a fluid, usually air, so the category can cover literal uses, related ideas, and more figurative extensions of the same core meaning. Taken together, these meanings present Weather as a flexible theme rather than a narrowly technical label, covering the central idea people usually mean when they use the word while still leaving room for closely related senses that appear in real language. Additional shades of meaning include to expose to the weather, or show the effects of such exposure, or to withstand such effects, to break down, of rocks and other materials, under the effects of exposure to rain, sunlight, temperature, and air, to pass to windward in a vessel, especially to beat 'round, to endure or survive an event or action without undue damage, and to place (a hawk) unhooded in the open air, which reinforce how the category can stretch across adjacent but still recognizable uses of the same term.
