Winter

• POS: Noun, Verb (intransitive)
• HYPHEN: win=ter

CIDE DICTIONARY

Winter, n. [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. .].

•  The season of the year in which the sun shines most obliquely upon any region; the coldest season of the year.  Chaucer.  [1913 Webster]

  " 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."  [1913 Webster]

  "And after summer evermore succeeds
  Barren winter, with his wrathful nipping cold."  [1913 Webster]

  "Winter lingering chills the lap of May."  [1913 Webster]
•  The period of decay, old age, death, or the like.  [1913 Webster]

  "Life's autumn past, I stand on winter's verge."  [1913 Webster]

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, Ilex lævigata, 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 (Hamamelis Viginica); witch-hazel; -- so called from its flowers appearing late in autumn, while the leaves are falling. -- Winter bud (Zoöl.), 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. (Zoöl.) (a) The pintail. (b) The old squaw. -- Winter egg (Zoöl.), 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. (Zoöl.) See the Note under Flounder. -- Winter gull (Zoöl.), 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. (Zoöl.) Same as Winter gull, above. [Prov. Eng.] -- Winter moth (Zoöl.), 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 (Zoöl.), the gizzard shad. -- Winter sheldrake (Zoöl.), the goosander. [Local, U. S.] -- Winter sleep (Zoöl.), hibernation. -- Winter snipe (Zoöl.), the dunlin. -- Winter solstice. (Astron.) See Solstice, 2. -- Winter teal (Zoöl.), the green-winged teal. -- Winter wagtail (Zoöl.), 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 (Zoöl.), a small American wren (Troglodytes hiemalis) closely resembling the common wren.

Winter, v. i. 

 To pass the winter; to hibernate; as, to winter in Florida.  [1913 Webster]
"Because the haven was not commodious to winter in, the more part advised to depart thence."  [1913 Webster]

Winter, v. i. 

 To keep, feed or manage, during the winter; as, to winter young cattle on straw.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Winter, n. & v.
--n.
1 the coldest season of the year, in the N. hemisphere from December to February and in the S. hemisphere from June to August.
2 Astron. the period from the winter solstice to the vernal equinox.
3 a bleak or lifeless period or region etc. (nuclear winter).
4 poet. a year (esp. of a person's age) (a man of fifty winters).
5 (attrib.) a characteristic of or suitable for winter (winter light; winter clothes). b (of fruit) ripening late or keeping until or during winter. c (of wheat or other crops) sown in autumn for harvesting the following year.
--v.
1 intr. (usu. foll. by at, in) pass the winter (likes to winter in the Canaries).
2 tr. keep or feed (plants, cattle) during winter.

Idiom

winter aconite see ACONITE 2. winter cress any bitter-tasting cress of the genus Barbarea, esp. B. vulgaris. winter garden a garden or conservatory of plants flourishing in winter. winter jasmine a jasmine, Jasminum nudiflorum, with yellow flowers. winter quarters a place where soldiers spend the winter. winter sleep hibernation. winter solstice see SOLSTICE. winter sports sports performed on snow or ice esp. in winter (e.g. skiing and ice-skating). winter-tide poet. = WINTERTIME.

Derivative

winterer n. winterless adj. winterly adj.

Etymology

OE f. Gmc, prob. rel. to WET

THESAURUS

Winter

Christmastide, Christmastime, Yule, Yuletide, aestival, arctic, autumn, autumnal, bitter weather, bleak weather, boreal, brumal, buy time, canicular, cold snap, cold wave, cold weather, consume time, depth of winter, equinoctial, freeze, freezing weather, frost, hard winter, hibernal, hiemal, keep time, kill time, look for time, measure time, midsummer, midwinter, occupy time, out of season, pass time, put in time, race against time, raw weather, seasonal, snap, solstitial, spend time, spring, springlike, subzero weather, summer, summerlike, summerly, summery, take time, take up time, use time, vernal, weekend, winterlike, wintertide, wintertime, wintery, wintry, wintry weather, wintry wind, work against time, zero weather

ROGET THESAURUS

Winter

Evening

N evening, eve, decline of day, fall of day, close of day, candlelight, candlelighting, eventide, nightfall, curfew, dusk, twilight, eleventh hour, sunset, sundown, going down of the sun, cock-shut, dewy eve, gloaming, bedtime, afternoon, postmeridian, p, m, autumn, fall, fall of the leaf, autumnal equinox, Indian summer, St. Luke's summer, St. Martin's summer, midnight, dead of night, witching hour, witching hour of night, witching time of night, winter, killing time, vespertine, autumnal, nocturnal, midnight, the outpost of advancing day, sable-vested Night, this gorgeous arch with golden worlds inlay'd.

Cold

N cold, coldness, frigidity, inclemency, fresco, winter, depth of winter, hard winter, Siberia, Nova Zembla, wind- chill factor, ice, snow, snowflake, snow crystal, snow drift, sleet, hail, hailstone, rime, frost, hoar frost, white frost, hard frost, sharp frost, barf, glaze, lolly, icicle, thick-ribbed ice, fall of snow, heavy fall, iceberg, icefloe, floe berg, glacier, nev_ee, serac, pruina, freezing mixture, dry ice, liquid nitrogen, liquid helium, chilliness, chill, shivering, goose skin, horripilation, rigor, chattering of teeth, numbness, frostbite, cold, cool, chill, chilly, icy, gelid, frigid, algid, fresh, keen, bleak, raw, inclement, bitter, biting, niveous, cutting, nipping, piercing, pinching, clay-cold, starved, chilled to the bone, shivering, aguish, transi de froid, frostbitten, frost-bound, frost-nipped, cold as a stone, cold as marble, cold as lead, cold as iron, cold as a frog, cold as charity, cold as Christmas, cool as a cucumber, cool as custard, icy, glacial, frosty, freezing, pruinose, wintry, brumal, hibernal, boreal, arctic, Siberian, hyemal, hyperborean, hyperboreal, icebound, frozen out, unwarmed, unthawed, lukewarm, tepid, isocheimal, isocheimenal, isocheimic, frozen, numb, frost-bitten, coldly, bitterly, pierre fendre.