Adjacent Words

red snow definitions

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Merriam Webster's

noun Date: 1678 snow colored by various airborne dusts or by a growth of algae (as of the genus Chlamydomonas) that contain red pigment and live in the upper layer of snow; also an alga causing red snow

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Snow Snow, n. [OE. snow, snaw, AS. sn[=a]w; akin to D. sneeuw, OS. & OHG. sn[=e]o, G. schnee, Icel. sn[ae]r, snj[=o]r, snaj[=a]r, Sw. sn["o], Dan. snee, Goth. snaiws, Lith. sn["e]gas, Russ. snieg', Ir. & Gael. sneachd, W. nyf, L. nix, nivis, Gr. acc. ni`fa, also AS. sn[=i]wan to snow, G. schneien, OHG. sn[=i]wan, Lith. snigti, L. ningit it snows, Gr. ni`fei, Zend snizh to snow; cf. Skr. snih to be wet or sticky. [root]172.] 1. Watery particles congealed into white or transparent crystals or flakes in the air, and falling to the earth, exhibiting a great variety of very beautiful and perfect forms. Note: Snow is often used to form compounds, most of which are of obvious meaning; as, snow-capped, snow-clad, snow-cold, snow-crowned, snow-crust, snow-fed, snow-haired, snowlike, snow-mantled, snow-nodding, snow-wrought, and the like. 2. Fig.: Something white like snow, as the white color (argent) in heraldry; something which falls in, or as in, flakes. The field of snow with eagle of black therein. --Chaucer. Red snow. See under Red. Snow bunting. (Zo["o]l.) See Snowbird, 1. Snow cock (Zo["o]l.), the snow pheasant. Snow flea (Zo["o]l.), a small black leaping poduran (Achorutes nivicola) often found in winter on the snow in vast numbers. Snow flood, a flood from melted snow. Snow flower (Bot.), the fringe tree. Snow fly, or Snow insect (Zo["o]l.), any one of several species of neuropterous insects of the genus Boreus. The male has rudimentary wings; the female is wingless. These insects sometimes appear creeping and leaping on the snow in great numbers. Snow gnat (Zo["o]l.), any wingless dipterous insect of the genus Chionea found running on snow in winter. Snow goose (Zo["o]l.), any one of several species of arctic geese of the genus Chen. The common snow goose (Chen hyperborea), common in the Western United States in winter, is white, with the tips of the wings black and legs and bill red. Called also white brant, wavey, and Texas goose. The blue, or blue-winged, snow goose (C. c[oe]rulescens) is varied with grayish brown and bluish gray, with the wing quills black and the head and upper part of the neck white. Called also white head, white-headed goose, and bald brant. Snow leopard (Zool.), the ounce. Snow line, lowest limit of perpetual snow. In the Alps this is at an altitude of 9,000 feet, in the Andes, at the equator, 16,000 feet. Snow mouse (Zo["o]l.), a European vole (Arvicola nivalis) which inhabits the Alps and other high mountains. Snow pheasant (Zo["o]l.), any one of several species of large, handsome gallinaceous birds of the genus Tetraogallus, native of the lofty mountains of Asia. The Himalayn snow pheasant (T. Himalayensis) in the best-known species. Called also snow cock, and snow chukor. Snow partridge. (Zo["o]l.) See under Partridge. Snow pigeon (Zo["o]l.), a pigeon (Columba leuconota) native of the Himalaya mountains. Its back, neck, and rump are white, the top of the head and the ear coverts are black. Snow plant (Bot.), a fleshy parasitic herb (Sarcodes sanguinea) growing in the coniferous forests of California. It is all of a bright red color, and is fabled to grow from the snow, through which it sometimes shoots up.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Red horse. (Zo["o]l.) (a) Any large American red fresh-water sucker, especially Moxostoma macrolepidotum and allied species. (b) See the Note under Drumfish. Red lead. (Chem) See under Lead, and Minium. Red-lead ore. (Min.) Same as Crocoite. Red liquor (Dyeing), a solution consisting essentially of aluminium acetate, used as a mordant in the fixation of dyestuffs on vegetable fiber; -- so called because used originally for red dyestuffs. Called also red mordant. Red maggot (Zo["o]l.), the larva of the wheat midge. Red manganese. (Min.) Same as Rhodochrosite. Red man, one of the American Indians; -- so called from his color. Red maple (Bot.), a species of maple (Acer rubrum). See Maple. Red mite. (Zo["o]l.) See Red spider, below. Red mulberry (Bot.), an American mulberry of a dark purple color (Morus rubra). Red mullet (Zo["o]l.), the surmullet. See Mullet. Red ocher (Min.), a soft earthy variety of hematite, of a reddish color. Red perch (Zo["o]l.), the rosefish. Red phosphorus. (Chem.) See under Phosphorus. Red pine (Bot.), an American species of pine (Pinus resinosa); -- so named from its reddish bark. Red precipitate. See under Precipitate. Red Republican (European Politics), originally, one who maintained extreme republican doctrines in France, -- because a red liberty cap was the badge of the party; an extreme radical in social reform. [Cant] Red ribbon, the ribbon of the Order of the Bath in England. Red sanders. (Bot.) See Sanders. Red sandstone. (Geol.) See under Sandstone. Red scale (Zo["o]l.), a scale insect (Aspidiotus aurantii) very injurious to the orange tree in California and Australia. Red silver (Min.), an ore of silver, of a ruby-red or reddish black color. It includes proustite, or light red silver, and pyrargyrite, or dark red silver. Red snapper (Zo["o]l.), a large fish (Lutlanus aya or Blackfordii) abundant in the Gulf of Mexico and about the Florida reefs. Red snow, snow colored by a mocroscopic unicellular alga (Protococcus nivalis) which produces large patches of scarlet on the snows of arctic or mountainous regions. Red softening (Med.) a form of cerebral softening in which the affected parts are red, -- a condition due either to infarction or inflammation. Red spider (Zo["o]l.), a very small web-spinning mite (Tetranychus telarius) which infests, and often destroys, plants of various kinds, especially those cultivated in houses and conservatories. It feeds mostly on the under side of the leaves, and causes them to turn yellow and die. The adult insects are usually pale red. Called also red mite. Red squirrel (Zo["o]l.), the chickaree. Red tape, the tape used in public offices for tying up documents, etc.; hence, official formality and delay.