Word of the day, 28th February 2015

Texting a friend yesterday, I said that I was glad to be inside all day, because although it was not too cold outside, it was a “grey and drizzly” day.

drizzly /ˈdrɪzli/

Drizzly is the adverb of drizzle /ˈdrɪzəl/, which in this context means “to rain gently and steadily in fine drops“.

Usage example:
“It drizzled throughout the night.”

You could say that was a “drizzly night“.

A more common place you may hear the word “drizzle” used:
You might see a cake with the name “lemon drizzle cake“.
In this case, the word means “to pour in a fine stream“.
So with such a cake, lemon (or perhaps lemon flavouring) has been “drizzled” /ˈdrɪzəld/ over the top of the cake.

Another example:
A certain recipe might instruct you to “Drizzle melted butter over the breadcrumb topping.“