winter
Traditionally the fourth of the four seasons, typically regarded as spanning either the period between the winter solstice to the spring equinox, or the months of December, January, and February in temperate and polar regions of the Northern Hemisphere and 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.
Noun
- Traditionally the fourth of the four seasons, typically regarded as spanning either the period between the winter solstice to the spring equinox, or the months of December, January, and February in temperate and polar regions of the Northern Hemisphere and 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.
- Ne take noon hede to brynge togidere þe parties of þe boon þat is to-broken or dislocate, til viij. daies ben goon in þe wyntir, & v. in þe somer; for þanne it schal make quytture, and be sikir from swellynge; & þanne...
- And after summer evermore succeeds Barren winter, with his wrathful nipping cold. - 1592, Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 1:
- It cannot be denied it [the chameleon] is (if not the moſt of any) a very abſtemious animall, and ſuch as by reaſon of its frigidity, paucity of bloud, and latitancy in the winter (about which time the obſervations are...
- The period of decay, old age, death, or the like.
- Life's autumn past, I stand on winter's verge. - 1814, William Wordsworth, The Excursion:
- Buterin seemed to sense that the market was out of balance, and he made a smart decision that helped Ethereum weather the crypto winter and continue to build while the market was down. - 2023, Ben Armstrong, Catching Up...
- Someone with dark skin, eyes and hair, seen as best suited to certain colors of clothing.
- An appliance to be fixed on the front of a grate, to keep a kettle warm, etc.
- The rainy season.
- Note that the Citie of Goa is the principall place of all the Oriental India, and the winter thus beginneth the 15 of May, with very great raine. - 1584, Barret, in Hakl. ii. 413
- The Winter heere beginneth about the first of Iune and dureth till the twentieth of September, but not with continuall raines as at Goa, but for some sixe or seuen dayes every change and full, with much wind, thunder...
- In Winter (when they rarely stir) they have a Mumjama, or Wax Cloth to throw over it […] - 1678, Fryer, 410
Origin
From Middle English winter, from Old English winter, from Proto-West Germanic *wintru, from Proto-Germanic *wintruz (“winter”). Cognate with West Frisian winter (“winter”), Dutch winter (“winter”), German Winter (“winter”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish vinter (“winter”), Faroese and Icelandic vetur (“winter”).
Forms
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
Derived
Arab Winter Arctic Winter Games Austrian winter pea beady-legged winter horse tick bewinter buy straw hats in winter Canella winterana Chinese winter squash cryptowinter crypto winter dead of winter demographic winter Drimys winteri early-winter early winter cress East Indian winter jet Father Winter Fell Winter Fimbulwinter forwintered Hildewintera in-winter jacky-winter jacky winter
Verb
- To spend the winter (in a particular place).
- When they retired, they hoped to winter in Florida.
- Those who seek to invade another country anywhere across the great Eurasian steppes are condemned eventually to winter in it. - 2022 December 27, “Ukraine war: Five ways conflict could go in 2023”, in BBC News:
- To store something (for instance animals) somewhere over winter to protect it from cold.