English

gullywasher

From gully + washer.

A compound of gully + washer

Middle English golet ‘esophagus, gullet’

English gully

Proto-Indo-European *wed- ‘wet, water’

…

Proto-West Germanic *waskan ‘to wash’

Old English wascan ‘to wash’

Middle English wasshen ‘to wash’

Middle English wasshere ‘one who debases coins by using acid to wear…’

The story

First use appears c. 1903.

noun An intense, but usually short-lived, rainstorm.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / gullywasher