gust
n.a sudden, strong rush of wind. It usually lasts for a short time and is much faster than the wind around it.
n.a sudden, brief increase in the speed of the wind. Often used to describe weather conditions that are unpredictable or turbulent.
“A sudden gust of wind blew my hat off.”
“The sailors tightened their grip on the ropes as a powerful gust hit the sails without warning.”
“While the average wind speed remained low, occasional gusts reaching fifty miles per hour made the bridge crossing hazardous for high-sided vehicles.”
Commonly pairs with the preposition 'of' followed by 'wind', 'air', or 'laughter'.
Apparently from an unrecorded Middle English gust, from Old Norse gustr (“a gust, blast”), from Proto-Germanic gustiz, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰew-. Cognate with Icelandic gustur (“gust of wind”). Related also to Old Norse gusa (“to gush forth”), Old High German gussa (“flood”), Middle English guschen (> English gush). The English word was not recorded before Shakespeare.
From Middle English gust, guste, from Latin gustus (“taste”) and Old French gust, goust.
From Middle English gusten (“to taste, have a taste for”), from the noun (see above).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.