windscreen wiper
1
2.3
- noun
- /ˈwɪndˌskrin ˈwaɪpər/
- UK
:
limpiaparabrisas
- He noticed the windscreen wiper was malfunctioning, leaving streaks on the glass as he drove through the storm.
There's a button that you can press that will slightly move the windshield wipers.
- There's a button that you can press that will slightly move the windshield wipers.
- So we're going along and the rains coming down, windshield wipers are going and the red tail lights are are North Star.
- One world's largest windshield wiper is hilarious.
- A car behind them passes them, windshield wipers off.
- Something that doesn't quite work as well is the windshield wiper stalk, which is just infuriating.
- I did not know why I didn't realize it before, but the little windshield wiper that he had given me was in the bottom of my no way.
Examples
-
As the rain started pouring heavily, she activated the windscreen wiper to clear her view.
-
On the right, the other dial controls the windshield wipers, which is simple enough to understand.
-
And then that same day it started to rain and I was out shopping and I turned my windshield wipers on and this happened.
-
One of these must be the windscreen wipers.
-
What light there had been was already seeping from the sky, and she drove with headlights on and the windscreen wipers working full tilt.
Fiction book (1990) -
The windscreen wipers worked flat out, immense juggernauts sent up blinding, muddy showers of spray, and even Lucilla had to admit that it was all thoroughly disagreeable.
Fiction book (1990) -
The windscreen wiper efficiently removed the droplets from the windshield, allowing him to drive safely.
Synonyms
29
2.1
A rubber blade that clears rain and snow from a car windshield
9
2.3
A moving blade that clears rain or snow from a car's front window
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a device that clears the windscreen' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'windscreen' (the vehicle's front glass) with 'wiper' (a blade/device that wipes away rain or debris). This straightforward noun–noun compound follows regular compositional patterns and has clear equivalents in many languages, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily understand it.
Etymology
Windscreen wiper comes from a simple image: a small arm with a rubber blade that wipes the windscreen, the car's front glass, to clear away rain and snow. So the name literally links 'wiper' ('one that wipes') and 'windscreen' ('front window'), which is why it means the tool that clears the front glass of a car.