▪ I. haar local.
(hɑː(r))
Also harr, haur.
[a. MDu. hare (Du. haere) keen cold wind.]
A wet mist or fog; esp. applied on the east coast of England and Scotland, from Lincolnshire northwards, to a cold sea-fog.
| 1662 Dugdale Hist. Imbanking Pref., The air being..cloudy, gross, and full of rotten harrs. 1671 Skinner Etym. Ling. Angl., A Sea Harr, Lincolniensibus Maritimis Tempestas à mari ingruens. 1777 W. Nimmo Hist. Stirlingsh. 438 In the months of April and May, easterly winds, commonly called Haars, usually blow with great violence, especially in the afternoons. 1806 Gazetteer Scotl. (ed. 2) 389 The water of the lake [Loch Ness]..never freezes in the severest winter, and, in frosty weather, is covered with a thick haar or mist, which has the appearance of smoke. 1876 Whitby Gloss., Harr, mist with small rain. ‘A northern harr Brings fine weather from far.’ 1889 N.W. Linc. Gloss. (ed. 2), Har, fog, mist, especially when it is cold. 1892 Stevenson Across the Plains 171 History broods over that part of the world like the easterly haar. |
▪ II. haar, -e
obs. forms of hair, hare.