winter(n = noun.time) wintertime - the coldest season of the year; in the northern hemisphere it extends from the winter solstice to the vernal equinox;
is a kind of season, time of year
has parts: winter solstice, midwinter
Derived forms verb winter1, verb winterize1, adjective wintery1, adjective wintry1
winter(v = verb.stative) overwinter - spend the winter; "We wintered on the Riviera"; "Shackleton's men overwintered on Elephant Island"
is one way to pass, spend
Derived form noun winter1
Sample sentences:
Somebody ----s; Somebody ----s PP
1. 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
"And after summer evermore succeeds
Barren winter, with his wrathful nipping cold." [1913 Webster]
"Winter lingering chills the lap of May." [1913 Webster]
2. The period of decay, old age, death, or the like. [1913 Webster]
"Life's autumn past, I stand on winter's verge." [1913 Webster]
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]
To keep, feed or manage, during the winter; as, to winter young cattle on straw. [1913 Webster]
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
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.
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.
austrian winter pea, early winter cress, madeira winter cherry, nuclear winter, winter aconite, winter cherry, winter cress, winter crookneck, winter crookneck squash, winter currant, winter fern, winter flounder, winter flowering cherry, winter hazel, winter heath, winter heliotrope, winter jasmine, winter melon, winter melon vine, winter mushroom, winter olympic games, winter olympics, winter purslane, winter rose, winter savory, winter savoury, winter solstice, winter squash, winter squash plant, winter sweet, winter urn, winter wren