a Greek name, now in common use for the north wind. Pezron observes, that anciently Boreas signified the north-east wind blowing at the time of the summer solstice. The Greeks erected an altar to Boreas. He is represented on the temple at Athens with his robe before his mouth, as if he felt the cold of the climate over which he presides, agreeably to the description of Ovid, who calls him gelidus tyrannus, "the shivering tyrant," Met. vi. ver. 711. But he is usually described by the Roman poets as violent and impetuous; ibid. ver. 686—ver. 707. In painting, he is generally represented like an old man with a horrible look, his hair and beard covered with snow or hoar frost, with the feet and tail of a dragon. M. Spierlingius has a treatise in praise of Boreas, wherein he shows the honours paid to him by antiquity. Boreas, according to this author, purifies the air, renders it calm and salubrious, preserves buildings from decay, drives away the plague and other noxious diseases, and expels locusts and other vermin hurtful to the grounds.