Meaning
To survive a difficult period, crisis, or controversy without lasting damage; to keep operating despite serious problems. Very common in business and political journalism about scandals, downturns, and reputational crises. Neutral register, mildly admiring; it emphasises endurance and survival rather than defeat of the crisis itself. Regional use: General English.
Origin
The verb is older than the idiom: since the late fourteenth century 'weather' as a noun and adjective meant the windward side (opposed to lee), and sailors spoke of weathering a headland or a gale - coming safely through on the windward side. The Online Etymology Dictionary dates the figurative verbal sense, 'bear up against and come through safely' applied to trouble or danger, to the 1650s, explaining the underlying notion as 'a ship riding out a storm without damage or loss'. Cambridge Dictionary's current definition - to be able to continue doing something despite serious problems - shows how completely the metaphor has detached from the sea; eighteenth-century novelists were already using it of troubles far from the sea.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- ride out the storm
- weather a storm
- weathering the storm
Usage Examples
- The airline weathered the storm of cancelled routes and returned to profit within two years.
- Her cabinet stuck with the minister while she weathered the storm over the leaked memo.
- Small bookshops that weathered the storm of online retail are now seeing neighbourhood loyalty pay off.