ˈrainfall
[f. rain n.1 + fall n.]
1. A fall or shower of rain.
| 1848–58 Kingsley Poems 15 Pawing the spray..till a fiery rainfall..Sparkled and gleamed. 1884 Manch. Exam. 6 June 4/6 Early in the game there was a smart rainfall. |
2. The quantity of rain falling in a certain time within a given area, usually estimated by inches (in depth) per annum.
| 1854 H. Miller Sch. & Schm. iii. (1860) 139 The Rainfall of this year..must have stood..above even this average. 1880 C. R. Markham Peruv. Bark 282 There is one arid region, with a normal rainfall of less than fifteen inches. |
| attrib. 1868 Symons's Meteorol. Mag. III. 204 Rainfall Registration. 1869 Ibid. IV. 133 Report of the Rainfall Committee. 1872 Meldrum in Q. Jrnl. Meteorol. Soc. (1873) I. 131 The rainfall tables of land-stations. |