WINTER

winter, wintertime

(noun) the coldest season of the year; in the northern hemisphere it extends from the winter solstice to the vernal equinox

winter, overwinter

(verb) spend the winter; ā€œWe wintered on the Rivieraā€; ā€œShackletonā€™s men overwintered on Elephant Islandā€

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology

Noun

winter (countable and uncountable, plural winters)

Traditionally the fourth of the four seasons, typically regarded as being from December 23 to March 20 in continental regions of the Northern Hemisphere or the months of June, July and August in the Southern Hemisphere. It is the time when the sun is lowest in the sky, resulting in short days, and the time of year with the lowest atmospheric temperatures for the region.

(figuratively, poetic) The period of decay, old age, death, or the like.

(countable, fashion) Someone with dark skin, eyes and hair, seen as best suited to certain colors of clothing.

(obsolete) An appliance to be fixed on the front of a grate, to keep a kettle warm, etc.

Usage notes

Note that season names are not capitalized in modern English unless at the beginning of a sentence, for example, I can't wait for spring to arrive. Exceptions occur when the season is personified, as in Old Man Winter, is used as part of a name, as in the Winter War, or is used as a given name, as in Summer Glau. This is in contrast to the days of the week and months of the year, which are always capitalized (Thursday or September).

Hyponyms

• AI winter

• atomic winter

• blackberry winter

• blackthorn winter

• dogwood winter

• General winter

• impact winter

• Kondratiev winter

• Long Winter

• meteorological winter

• nuclear winter

• Russian winter

• Soviet winter

• volcanic winter

Verb

winter (third-person singular simple present winters, present participle wintering, simple past and past participle wintered)

(intransitive) To spend the winter (in a particular place).

(transitive) To store something (for instance animals) somewhere over winter to protect it from cold.

Anagrams

• twiner

Proper noun

Winter (plural Winters)

A surname.

A female given name

An unincorporated community in the Rural Municipality of Senlac Rural Municipality No. 411, Saskatchewan, Canada.

An unincorporated community in Putnam County, West Virginia, United States.

A small town and village in Sawyer County, Wisconsin.

Anagrams

• twiner

Source: Wiktionary


Win"ter, n. Etym: [AS. winter; akin to OFries. & D. winter, OS. & OHG. wintar, G. winter, D. & Sw. vinter, Icel. vetr, Goth. wintrus; of uncertain origin; cf. Old Gallic vindo- white (in comp.), OIr. find white.

1. The season of the year in which the sun shines most obliquely upon any region; the coldest season of the year. "Of thirty winter he was old." Chaucer. And after summer evermore succeeds Barren winter, with his wrathful nipping cold. Shak. Winter lingering chills the lap of May. Goldsmith.

Note: North of the equator, winter is popularly taken to include the months of December, January, and February (see Season). Astronomically, it may be considered to begin with the winter solstice, about December 21st, and to end with the vernal equinox, about March 21st.

2. The period of decay, old age, death, or the like. Life's autumn past, I stand on winter's verge. Wordsworth. Winter apple, an apple that keeps well in winter, or that does not ripen until winter.

– Winter barley, a kind of barley that is sown in autumn.

– Winter berry (Bot.), the name of several American shrubs (Ilex verticillata, I. lƦvigata, etc.) of the Holly family, having bright red berries conspicuous in winter.

– Winter bloom. (Bot.) (a) A plant of the genus Azalea. (b) A plant of the genus Hamamelis (H. Viginica); witch-hazel; -- so called from its flowers appearing late in autumn, while the leaves are falling.

– Winter bud (Zoƶl.), a statoblast.

– Winter cherry (Bot.), a plant (Physalis Alkekengi) of the Nightshade family, which has, a red berry inclosed in the inflated and persistent calyx. See Alkekengi.

– Winter cough (Med.), a form of chronic bronchitis marked by a cough recurring each winter.

– Winter cress (Bot.), a yellow-flowered cruciferous plant (Barbarea vulgaris).

– Winter crop, a crop which will bear the winter, or which may be converted into fodder during the winter.

– Winter duck. (Zoƶl.) (a) The pintail. (b) The old squaw.

– Winter egg (Zoƶl.), an egg produced in the autumn by many invertebrates, and destined to survive the winter. Such eggs usually differ from the summer eggs in having a thicker shell, and often in being enveloped in a protective case. They sometimes develop in a manner different from that of the summer eggs.

– Winter fallow, ground that is fallowed in winter.

– Winter fat. (Bot.) Same as White sage, under White.

– Winter fever (Med.), pneumonia. [Colloq.] -- Winter flounder. (Zoƶl.) See the Note under Flounder.

– Winter gull (Zoƶl.), the common European gull; -- called also winter mew. [Prov. Eng.] -- Winter itch. (Med.) See Prarie itch, under Prairie.

– Winter lodge, or Winter lodgment. (Bot.) Same as Hibernaculum.

– Winter mew. (Zoƶl.) Same as Winter gull, above. [Prov. Eng.] -- Winter moth (Zoƶl.), any one of several species of geometrid moths which come forth in winter, as the European species (Cheimatobia brumata). These moths have rudimentary mouth organs, and eat no food in the imago state. The female of some of the species is wingless.

– Winter oil, oil prepared so as not to solidify in moderately cold weather.

– Winter pear, a kind of pear that keeps well in winter, or that does not ripen until winter.

– Winter quarters, the quarters of troops during the winter; a winter residence or station.

– Winter rye, a kind of rye that is sown in autumn.

– Winter shad (Zoƶl.), the gizzard shad.

– Winter sheldrake (Zoƶl.), the goosander. [Local, U.S.] -- Winter sleep (Zoƶl.), hibernation.

– Winter snipe (Zoƶl.), the dunlin.

– Winter solstice. (Astron.) See Solstice, 2.

– Winter teal (Zoƶl.), the green-winged teal.

– Winter wagtail (Zoƶl.), the gray wagtail (Motacilla melanope). [Prov. Eng.] -- Winter wheat, wheat sown in autumn, which lives during the winter, and ripens in the following summer.

– Winter wren (Zoƶl.), a small American wren (Troglodytes hiemalis) closely resembling the common wren.

Win"ter, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Wintered; p. pr. & vb. n. Wintering.]

Definition: To pass the winter; to hibernate; as, to winter in Florida. Because the haven was not commodious to winter in, the more part advised to depart thence. Acts xxvii. 12.

Win"ter, v. i.

Definition: To keep, feed or manage, during the winter; as, to winter young cattle on straw.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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