Definition of "shower"

They are wet with the showres of the mountaines, and imbrace the rocke for want of a shelter.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], Job 24:8

Occasionally, the sun pierces the clouds like a searchlight to illuminate a feature such as a farm, copse or stream, before being overwhelmed by an advancing shower. Wordsworth would have loved it!

2022 November 2, Paul Bigland, “New trains, old trains, and splendid scenery”, in RAIL, number 969, page 57

With this I maye be sure to come sauf / and goo sauf / and that the quene shal haue her lyberte as she had before / and neuer for no thynge that hath ben surmysed afore this tyme / she neuer fro this day stande in no peryll / for els sayd sir launcelot I dare auenture me to kepe her from an harder shoure than euer I kepte her(please add an English translation of this quotation)

1485, Sir Thomas Malory, “xiiij”, in Le Morte Darthur, book XX

You all behaved like a shower, now you are to be treated like a shower

1956, Private's Progress (motion picture)

It was one of the worst feelings in the H-Block, one of the worst experiences to sit and listen to somebody getting beat. Because you were totally powerless, and you would always get somebody shouting at the door, “You shower of bastards!” It was always a crowd of screws and one or two naked men in a cell. They had total control.

1991, Allen Feldman, Formations of Violence: The Narrative of the Body and Political Terror in Northern Ireland, University of Chicago Press, page 208

But when I tweeted it out, most of the responses (from the more than one million viewers) were along the lines of: 'what do you expect from this shower?

2023 October 18, Christian Wolmar, “The back of a fag packet used for unworkable rail plans”, in RAIL, number 994, page 45

The individual in the army becomes used to holding human life in contempt, in fact the greater the slaughter, the greater is his merit; and the more medals, ribbons, and honors of hero-worship are showered on him, the more he becomes, after a time, indifferent to all sorts of human suffering and loss of human life.

1919, Boris Sidis, The Source and Aim of Human Progress

Shower the people you love with love / Show them the way that you feel

1979, James Taylor (lyrics and music), “Shower the People”, in In the Pocket

When you show a credential there's a protocol whereby the showee has assurance that the shower possesses a credential of the particular type without actually seeing the bit string.

2006, Bruce Christianson, Bruno Crispo, James A. Malcolm, Security Protocols: 12th International Workshop, page 18

Once the showee looks at the object, the shower removes his or her gaze from the showee and gazes back at the object (see below and Fig. 5.2).

2018, Elisabeth Reber, Cornelia Gerhardt, Embodied Activities in Face-to-Face and Mediated Settings, page 153

As a man who can best be described as a "grower not a shower", I helped Brent realize that many people in the gay community are concerned in a very adolescent way with their dick size, including me.

1993, Barry Burns, “Muffin on Parade”, in soc.motss‎ (Usenet)

"Growers" are guys whose penises tend to contract a lot lengthwise when flaccid, while "show-ers" are guys whose penises could be said to merely "deflate" without contracting much in length.

1994, jenster, “Penis Size and other Eternal Questions”, in seattle.general‎ (Usenet)

His dick, if I remember correctly, is more of a shower than a grower […]

2003, Austin Foxxe, Three the Hard Way: Tales of Three-way Sex Between Men‎