The story
From Latin meridiare, to keep to the middle of the day: you find a wall or an olive tree and wait the heat out. Montale opened a poem in Ossi di seppia with meriggiare pallido e assorto, and the verb has been mostly literary ever since.
meriggiare
meh-reed-JAH-reh[merid͡ʒˈd͡ʒaːre]
to see out the hottest hours lying in the shade — the siesta, taken outdoors
Closest in English: siesta, nap, napping. None of them covers it.
How it went in the game
Contains the answers. If you want to play the word yourself first, leave this closed.
- Which language is it from?Italian
- When does it happen?In the heat of midday
- Where would you hear it?An olive grove in high summer
- What does it mean?To lie up in the shade at midday
How it went
Harder than most words so far.
Round three, situation, was where most points went.
More Italian words
All Italian words ›More about the weather
- gluggaveður Icelandic
- uitwaaien Dutch