hibernate

• POS: Verb (intransitive)
• HYPHEN: hi=ber=nate

CIDE DICTIONARY

hibernate, v. i. [L. hibernare, hibernatum, fr. hibernus wintry. See Hibernal.].

 To winter; to pass the season of winter in close quarters, in a torpid or lethargic state, as certain mammals, reptiles, and insects.  [1913 Webster]
"Inclination would lead me to hibernate, during half the year, in this uncomfortable climate of Great Britain."  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

hibernate, v.intr.
1 (of some animals) spend the winter in a dormant state.
2 remain inactive.

Derivative

hibernation n. hibernator n.

Etymology

L hibernare f. hibernus wintry

DEVIL DICTIONARY

hibernate

v.i. To pass the winter season in domestic seclusion. There have been many singular popular notions about the hibernation of various animals. Many believe that the bear hibernates during the whole winter and subsists by mechanically sucking its paws. It is admitted that it comes out of its retirement in the spring so lean that it had to try twice before it can cast a shadow. Three or four centuries ago, in England, no fact was better attested than that swallows passed the winter months in the mud at the bottom of their brooks, clinging together in globular masses. They have apparently been compelled to give up the custom and account of the foulness of the brooks. Sotus Ecobius discovered in Central Asia a whole nation of people who hibernate. By some investigators, the fasting of Lent is supposed to have been originally a modified form of hibernation, to which the Church gave a religious significance; but this view was strenuously opposed by that eminent authority, Bishop Kip, who did not wish any honors denied to the memory of the Founder of his family.

THESAURUS

hibernate

aestivate, be a sideliner, be latent, be still, coast, delay, do nothing, drift, escape notice, hang fire, have nothing on, idle, lay by, lay off, lay to, lie beneath, lie by, lie dormant, lie fallow, lie hid, lie idle, lie low, lie off, lie to, lie up, lurk, make no sign, not budge, not stir, rest, ride at anchor, sit back, sit it out, smolder, stagnate, underlie, vegetate, wait and see, watch and wait

ROGET THESAURUS

hibernate

Inactivity

VB be inactive, do nothing, move slowly, let the grass grow under one's feet, take one's time, dawdle, drawl, droil, lag, hang back, slouch, loll, lollop, lounge, poke, loaf, loiter, go to sleep over, sleep at one's post, ne battre que d'une aile, take it easy, take things as they come, lead an easy life, vegetate, swim with the stream, eat the bread of idleness, loll in the lap of luxury, loll in the lap of indolence, waste time, consume time, kill time, lose time, burn daylight, waste the precious hours, idle away time, trifle away time, fritter away time, fool away time, spend time in, take time in, peddle, piddle, potter, pudder, dabble, faddle fribble, fiddle-faddle, dally, dilly-dally, sleep, slumber, be asleep, hibernate, oversleep, sleep like a top, sleep like a log, sleep like a dormouse, sleep soundly, heavily, doze, drowze, snooze, nap, take a nap, dream, snore one's best, settle to sleep, go to sleep, go off to sleep, doze off, drop off, fall asleep, drop asleep, close the eyes, seal up the eyes, seal up eyelids, weigh down the eyelids, get sleep, nod, yawn, go to bed, turn, get some z's, stack z's, languish, expend itself, flag, hang fire, relax, render idle, sluggardize, mitigate.