Today's Etymology: "Weather" -- c1374 Chaucer Troilus & Criseyde iii. 670 And if ye liggen wel to-night, com ofte, And careth not what weder is on-lofte.

weather, n. 

Pronunciation:  /ˈwɛðə(r)/

Forms:  OE weder, ME wæder, ME weder, ME Sc. vedir, weddire, wedyre, ME wedir(e, wedre, ...

Etymology:  Common Germanic (not recorded in Gothic): Old English weder neuter, Old Frisian ...

  

1.  a.

 (a) The condition of the atmosphere (at a given place and time) with respect to heat or cold, quantity of sunshine, presence or absence of rain, hail, snow, thunder, fog, etc., violence or gentleness of the winds. Also, the condition of the atmosphere regarded as subject to vicissitudes.For wind and weather (rarely †weather and wind) see wind n.¹ 5.

c725   Corpus Gloss. (Hessels) T 121   Temperiem, uueder.

OE   Azarias 62   Tosweop ond toswengde þurh swiðes meaht liges leoman, swa hyra lice ne scod, ac wæs in þam ofne, þa se engel cwom, windig ond wynsum, wedere onlicust, þonne on sumeres tid sended weorþeð dropena dreorung mid dæges hwile.

a1100   Gerefa in Anglia IX. 259   Þæt he friðige & forðige ælce [tilþe] be ðam‥ðe hine weder wisað.

c1275  (1200)    Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1963) l. 6008   Þe wind gon aliðen & þat weder leoðede.

1297   R. Gloucester's Chron. (Rolls) 2441,   & vor weder & oþer þing on erþe after hom [sc. the planets] moche is, Þis misbileuede men hom clupede godes.

c1374   Chaucer Troilus & Criseyde iii. 670   And if ye liggen wel to-night, com ofte, And careth not what weder is on-lofte.

c1400   T. Chestre Launfal 223   And for hete of the wedere Hys mantell he feld togydere And sette hym doun to reste.

c1403   Lydgate Temple Glas 395   And oft also, aftir a dropping mone, The weddir clereþ.

?c1450   Life St. Cuthbert (1891) l. 627   But sodanly þe wedir chaunged.

1523   J. Skelton Goodly Garlande of Laurell sig. F,   How men were wonte for to discerne By candelmes day what wedder shuld holde.

1528   D. Lindsay Dreme 774   Surmountyng the myd Regioun of the air, Quhare no maner of perturbatioun Off wodder may ascend so hie as thair.

1545   R. Ascham Toxophilus ii. f. 40,   The lengthe or shortnesse of the marke is alwayes vnder the rule of the wether.

1545   T. Raynald tr. E. Roesslin Byrth of Mankynde 88   Item the intemperancie & mutation of the ayre, & whether, may be cause of aborcement.

1609   Pimlyco, or Runne Red-Cap D 2,   To know what Wether was to come By 'th Almanacke.

1667   T. Sprat Hist. Royal-Soc. 247   A Wheel-Barometer, and other Instruments for finding the pressure of the Air, and serving to predict the changes of the Weather.

1678   Lady Chaworth in 12th Rep. Royal Comm. Hist. MSS (1890) App. v. 45   Lady Portsmouth‥goes to Bourbon as soone as the weather opens to allow travelling.

1779   Mirror No. 35,   The conversation began about the weather, my aunt observing, that the seasons were wonderfully altered in her memory.

1853   E. C. Gaskell Ruth III. i. 21   It was weather for open doors and windows.

1859   H. Kingsley Recoll. G. Hamlyn viii,   However, I am sincerely glad you are come, I knew no weather would stop you.

1890   C. Dixon Ann. Bird Life 309   They are birds which have no regular winter home…they wander to and fro, south and north, just as the exigency of the weather drives them.

OED