to bucket down
1
6.5
- phrasal verb
- /ˈbʌkɪt daʊn/
- UK
:
llover a cántaros
- The forecast says it will bucket down all afternoon, so don't forget your umbrella.
Examples
-
As we huddled under the awning, the rain began to bucket down unexpectedly.
-
The rain buckets down.
Fiction book (1996) -
It's going to bucket down in a minute.
-
The bucket down and full of tears am I, drinking my griefs, whilst you mount up on high.
-
The spring rains bucketed down, turning the dirt to mud.
-
I had intended to take the NEX-7 to somewhere spectacular at lunchtime to finish my rediscovery of it, but it has bucketed down with rain all day in London today.
Blog text (2) -
When the storm hit, it started to bucket down within minutes, soaking everyone outside.
Synonyms
36
3.4
Fall from above in large amounts, like ash or confetti
8
5.5
To fall very hard, usually about rain
3
5.9
To rain very hard
1
8.4
To rain very heavily
1
3.5
To fall from above in large amounts, like rain or ash
1
5.6
To pour a lot of water from the sky
1
8.0
To fall heavily in a wide stream, as rain or snow
To rain very heavily
Rain that falls very hard
To rain very heavily with water falling fast and hard
Falling in a heavy, steady flow like strong rain
Antonyms
How Heavy
Surface Forms
Morphology
The verb+particle pattern gives a clue — 'down' often signals a downward or intensified action — but the specific sense 'to rain very heavily' is not directly predictable from the literal meanings of 'bucket' (a container) and 'down' alone. Because the heavy-rain sense is idiomatic/colloquial and relies on an established verb usage ('to bucket' = to pour heavily) that a learner may not infer from the noun, the expression is only partially transparent.
Etymology
Bucket down probably comes from the image of a full bucket being tipped down so water pours out. That's why the phrase means 'to rain very heavily'.