Weather house

Weather house

A weather house is a folk art device in the shape of a small German or Alpine chalet that indicates the weather. A typical weather house has two doors side by side. The left side has a girl or woman, the right side a boy or man. The female figure comes out of the house when the weather is sunny and dry, while the male comes out to indicate rain.

In fact, a weather house functions as a hygrometer embellished by folk art. The male and female figures ride on a balance bar, which is suspended by a piece of catgut or hair. The gut relaxes or shrinks based on the humidity in the surrounding air, relaxing when the air is wet and tensing when the air is dry. This action swings one figure or the other out of the house depending on the humidity. [ [http://www.rmets.org/education/weatherclub/primary/houses.php Weather houses] at the Royal Meteorological Society]

Weather houses are associated in the popular mind with Germany or Switzerland, and are often decorated in the style of a cuckoo clock. Many weather houses also bear a small thermometer on the part between the two doors that conceals the gut suspension, and many also contain a piggy bank.

It is said that people who like weather houses are averse to doing the post.

Cultural influence

A one-act English comic opera called "Weather or No", about the male and female figures in a weather house falling in love, became popular when it was played as a companion piece to "The Mikado" in 1896-97.

References


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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Weather house — Weather Weath er, n. [OE. weder, AS. weder; akin to OS. wedar, OFries. weder, D. weder, we[^e]r, G. wetter, OHG. wetar, Icel. ve[eth]r, Dan. veir, Sw. v[ a]der wind, air, weather, and perhaps to OSlav. vedro fair weather; or perhaps to Lith.… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • weather house — noun Etymology: weather (I) : a toy house that indicates changes in atmospheric humidity by the appearance or retirement of toy images moved by varying tension of a gut string called also weather box * * * weather house or weather box noun A toy… …   Useful english dictionary

  • weather house — n. mechanical device shaped like a house that indicates changes in atmospheric conditions by the showing or withdrawal of toy images, weather box …   English contemporary dictionary

  • weather house — noun a toy hygroscope in the form of a small house with figures of a man and woman standing in two porches, the man coming out in wet weather and the woman in dry …   English new terms dictionary

  • Weather — Weath er, n. [OE. weder, AS. weder; akin to OS. wedar, OFries. weder, D. weder, we[^e]r, G. wetter, OHG. wetar, Icel. ve[eth]r, Dan. veir, Sw. v[ a]der wind, air, weather, and perhaps to OSlav. vedro fair weather; or perhaps to Lith. vetra storm …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Weather box — Weather Weath er, n. [OE. weder, AS. weder; akin to OS. wedar, OFries. weder, D. weder, we[^e]r, G. wetter, OHG. wetar, Icel. ve[eth]r, Dan. veir, Sw. v[ a]der wind, air, weather, and perhaps to OSlav. vedro fair weather; or perhaps to Lith.… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Weather breeder — Weather Weath er, n. [OE. weder, AS. weder; akin to OS. wedar, OFries. weder, D. weder, we[^e]r, G. wetter, OHG. wetar, Icel. ve[eth]r, Dan. veir, Sw. v[ a]der wind, air, weather, and perhaps to OSlav. vedro fair weather; or perhaps to Lith.… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Weather bureau — Weather Weath er, n. [OE. weder, AS. weder; akin to OS. wedar, OFries. weder, D. weder, we[^e]r, G. wetter, OHG. wetar, Icel. ve[eth]r, Dan. veir, Sw. v[ a]der wind, air, weather, and perhaps to OSlav. vedro fair weather; or perhaps to Lith.… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Weather cloth — Weather Weath er, n. [OE. weder, AS. weder; akin to OS. wedar, OFries. weder, D. weder, we[^e]r, G. wetter, OHG. wetar, Icel. ve[eth]r, Dan. veir, Sw. v[ a]der wind, air, weather, and perhaps to OSlav. vedro fair weather; or perhaps to Lith.… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Weather door — Weather Weath er, n. [OE. weder, AS. weder; akin to OS. wedar, OFries. weder, D. weder, we[^e]r, G. wetter, OHG. wetar, Icel. ve[eth]r, Dan. veir, Sw. v[ a]der wind, air, weather, and perhaps to OSlav. vedro fair weather; or perhaps to Lith.… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

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