Rain n.  Water falling in drops from the clouds; the descent of water from the clouds in drops.
    Rain is water by the heat of the sun divided into very small parts ascending in the air, till, encountering the cold, it be condensed into clouds, and descends in drops.   --Ray.
    Fair days have oft contracted wind and rain.   --Milton.
 Note: ☞ Rain is distinguished from mist by the size of the drops, which are distinctly visible. When water falls in very small drops or particles, it is called mist; and fog is composed of particles so fine as to be not only individually indistinguishable, but to float or be suspended in the air. See Fog, and Mist.
 Rain band Meteorol., a dark band in the yellow portion of the solar spectrum near the sodium line, caused by the presence of watery vapor in the atmosphere, and hence sometimes used in weather predictions.
 Rain bird Zool., the yaffle, or green woodpecker. [Prov. Eng.] The name is also applied to various other birds, as to Saurothera vetula of the West Indies.
 Rain fowl Zool., the channel-bill cuckoo (Scythrops Novae-Hollandiae) of Australia.
 Rain gauge, an instrument of various forms for measuring the quantity of rain that falls at any given place in a given time; a pluviometer; an ombrometer.
 Rain goose Zool., the red-throated diver, or loon. [Prov. Eng.]
 Rain prints Geol., markings on the surfaces of stratified rocks, presenting an appearance similar to those made by rain on mud and sand, and believed to have been so produced.
 Rain quail. Zool. See Quail, n., 1.
 Rain water, water that has fallen from the clouds in rain.