rainmaker

noun

1. Someone or something that causes or attempts to cause rain to fall.

   “It is the uncertainty of rainfall in southern California that doubtless makes this region attractive to the rainmaker. […] An examination into the methods of the rainmaker shows a disregard of physical laws, and a review of the history of rainmaking affords no proof of his success. By far the most important feature of his work consists in playing upon the credulity of mankind.”

   “By using a portable artificial "rainmaker" it is possible to obtain run-off data for rains of different amounts and intensities under a variety of conditions.”

   “Unlike summer, when scattered thunderstorms are the primary rainmaker, September precipitation becomes increasingly controlled by large but infrequent low pressure areas that develop near or migrate toward Colorado.”

2. Someone or something that causes or attempts to cause rain to fall.

   “I looked up from under the bush, and saw a dark place in the sky, I heard a voice, it said; "Call for rain,"—and I did call. But no rain fell—I knew I was to be a rain-maker. Our people have always had rain-makers among them. So looking up again, a flash of lightning came out of the cloud, I heard another voice, it said: I will send you a thunderbolt—pick it up—keep it, and when the earth is dry, hold it up towards the sky, and it will bring down the rain.”

   “As in many other parts of Africa, the rainmaker is a personage of great importance, whose powers of calling down rain whenever it is wanted are universally believed by the people, and his services are always eagerly sought when a fire happens in their very combustible houses.”

   “If you want the Vegetation to appear you must have rain; and the rain-maker in almost all primitive tribes has been a most important personage.”

   “This same knowledge of botany coupled with a knowledge of the movements of travelling bird life may suggest the clue by which certain old rain-makers at times foretell rain and floods.”

3. Someone or something that causes or attempts to cause rain to fall.

   “Rainmakers consider seeding Bangkok sky as PM2.5 returns to ‘safe’ level [title] […] The Royal Rainmaking and Agricultural Aviation Department is preparing to seed clouds above Bangkok in an attempt to ease the capital’s smog problems.”

   “The system, which involves an enormous network of fuel-burning chambers installed high up on the Tibetan mountains, could increase rainfall in the region by up to 10 billion cubic metres a year […] One of the biggest challenges the rainmakers faced was finding a way to keep the chambers operating in one of the world’s most remote and hostile environments.”

4. (US, figuratively, informal)A person having the ability to generate business, raise funds, or otherwise engineer success for a company, organization, etc.

   “The law firm relied heavily on Charlotte as its main rainmaker to bring in new clients.”

   “The fact is, that since a good, sound, honest, efficient, automatic, nonmetallic currency and standard was tampered with in 1893, India has been a happy hunting-ground for any empiric who conjured with a new scheme of currency, no matter how fantastic. Instead of admitting after a fair test that no ‘managed’ currency for such a community could be worked for a twelvemonth even by an Achille Fould, every sort of ‘financial rainmaker’ has since 1893 been enlarged on our hapless wards.”

   “The Rainmaker absolutely believes, without a dollop of doubt, the he or she always improves the customer's current state. The Rainmaker knows that if the customer does not buy, then the customer loses something, and the Rainmaker loses the sale.”

   “The rainmakers realize that the cost of obtaining a new client is much higher than that of keeping an old one. Many affirm that their relationships mean something to them beyond the possibility of future work. Whatever the reason, they never lose touch. These core elements are what make rainmakers different from other people.”

   “Over the years, [Bill] Clinton has had three main business involvements with [Ronald] Burkle. The first is a broad advisory capacity, for which Clinton has been paid flat fees for work as a rainmaker and liaison between Burkle and various potential investors.”

5. (informal)A batted ball that is hit very high into the air.

   “The slugger is known for hitting rainmakers.”

   “His #Boomstick helped [Nelson] Cruz earn a spot as the second-longest Statcast™-rated homer of the 2016 season, coming up just shy of Giancarlo Stanton's 504-foot rainmaker in August.”