weather the storm
weather the storm,
also, ride out the storm
Meaning
- handle a difficult period of time successfully
- survive a serious situation without being harmed in any way
- reach the end of some hardship or problem without much damage, harm or disorder
Example Sentences
- There haven’t been any tourists this year, and the hotels, campsites, and restaurants are having to weather the storm until things pick up again.
- During the current pandemic, everyone was riding out the storm until they found a vaccine.
- When John was made redundant, the family had to weather the storm until he found a new job.
- The disgraced politician was left to ride out the storm as he refused to resign.
- After all the negative press, his reputation was in tatters, but it was his own fault, so he had to weather the storm.
- I am sure that Cally is in the right situation to weather the storm.
- I wonder how my son had weathered the storm after lost his job.
Origin
This idiom alludes to a ship surviving a storm at sea or coming safely through awful weather of some kind. The British love to talk about the weather, so it stands to reason that there are several idioms featuring it. This one has been used figuratively since the 1600s, at least.
In History of England in 1849, Thomas Macaulay wrote:
“(They) weathered together the fiercest storms of faction.”
Share your opinions1 Opinion
Your origin seems incomplete (and I don’t have it to give). Saying British people like to talk about weather, so several idioms feature it, is an observation at best, and unnecessary. What would be useful would be explaining the use of “weather” here as a verb, not as a single or collective noun.
“Weather the storm” is linguistically similar to “sport the tennis” or “animal the dog”, but you don’t hear people saying that they “will have to animal the dog”.
(I’d be suspicious if they did!)
It’s this usage that should be explained, i.e. endure and get through.
A good website can weather some criticism.
‒ Stephen M April 24, 2021