toad-strangler

plural toad-stranglers

1. USdialectalA very heavy downpour of rain.

   It rained in memory of Noah, a toad-strangler that threatened to wash them all into a gully that foamed and churned with red water

   1998, Sheldon Russell, The Savage Trail

   2 more examples

   "I mean, hit's a toad-strangler of a rain," he proffered. "I mean!" she agreed. "Reckon your daddy'll keer, me a-follerin' this-a-way?" "Reckon he mought."

   1940, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, When the whippoorwill

   It's not what I'd call a sprinkle, and it's not a chip washer or a gully washer — it's a real regular toad-strangler, and I've seen 'em like this in Arkansas when it turns all the roads into black gumbo.

   1943, James Hilton, The story of Dr. Wassell

   Synonyms: gully-washer, cob-floater, duck-drownder, frog-strangler, goose drownder, lightwood-knot floater, sod-soaker, trashmover