Adjacent Words

Winter definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

WINTER, n.
1. The cold season of the year. Astronomically considered, winter commences in northern latitudes when the sun enters Capricorn, or at the solstice about the 21st of December, and ends at the equinox in March; but in ordinary discourse, the three winter months are December, January, and February. Our Saxon ancestors reckoned the years by winters; as ten winters; thirty winters. In tropical climates, there are two winters annually; but they cannot be said to be cold. In the temperate and frigid climates, there is one winter only in the year.
2. The part of the printing press which sustains the carriage.
WINTER, v.i. To pass the winter. He wintered in Italy. Cattle winter well on good fodder.
WINTER, v.t. To feed or manage during the winter. To winter young cattle on straw, is not profitable. Delicate plants must be wintered under cover.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: the coldest season of the year; in the northern hemisphere it extends from the winter solstice to the vernal equinox [syn: winter, wintertime] v
1: spend the winter; "We wintered on the Riviera"; "Shackleton's men overwintered on Elephant Island" [syn: winter, overwinter]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English, from Old English; akin to Old High German wintar winter and perhaps to Lithuanian vanduo water, Old English wæter — more at water Date: before 12th century 1. the season between autumn and spring comprising in the northern hemisphere usually the months of December, January, and February or as reckoned astronomically extending from the December solstice to the March equinox 2. the colder half of the year 3. year <happened many winters ago> 4. a period of inactivity or decay II. verb (wintered; wintering) Date: 14th century intransitive verb 1. to pass the winter <winters in the Caribbean> 2. to feed or find food during the winter — used with on transitive verb to keep, feed, or manage during the winter III. adjective Date: 14th century 1. of, relating to, or suitable for winter <a winter vacation> <winter clothes> 2. sown in the autumn and harvested in the following spring or summer <winter wheat> <winter rye> — compare summer

Oxford Reference Dictionary

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. Phrases and idioms: 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. Derivatives: winterer n. winterless adj. winterly adj. Etymology: OE f. Gmc, prob. rel. to WET

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Winter Win"ter, 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. ????.] 1. The season of the year in which the sun shines most obliquely upon any region; the coldest season of the year. ``Of thirty winter he was old.'' --Chaucer. And after summer evermore succeeds Barren winter, with his wrathful nipping cold. --Shak. Winter lingering chills the lap of May. --Goldsmith. Note: 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. 2. The period of decay, old age, death, or the like. Life's autumn past, I stand on winter's verge. --Wordsworth. 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, I. l[ae]vigata, 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 (H. Viginica); witch-hazel; -- so called from its flowers appearing late in autumn, while the leaves are falling. Winter bud (Zo["o]l.), 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. (Zo["o]l.) (a) The pintail. (b) The old squaw. Winter egg (Zo["o]l.), 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. (Zo["o]l.) See the Note under Flounder. Winter gull (Zo["o]l.), 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. (Zo["o]l.) Same as Winter gull, above. [Prov. Eng.] Winter moth (Zo["o]l.), 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 (Zo["o]l.), the gizzard shad. Winter sheldrake (Zo["o]l.), the goosander. [Local, U. S.] Winter sleep (Zo["o]l.), hibernation. Winter snipe (Zo["o]l.), the dunlin. Winter solstice. (Astron.) See Solstice, 2. Winter teal (Zo["o]l.), the green-winged teal. Winter wagtail (Zo["o]l.), 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 (Zo["o]l.), a small American wren (Troglodytes hiemalis) closely resembling the common wren.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Winter Win"ter, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Wintered; p. pr. & vb. n. Wintering.] To pass the winter; to hibernate; as, to winter in Florida. Because the haven was not commodious to winter in, the more part advised to depart thence. --Acts xxvii. 12.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Winter Win"ter, v. i. To keep, feed or manage, during the winter; as, to winter young cattle on straw.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(winters, wintering, wintered) Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English. 1. Winter is the season between autumn and spring. In the winter the weather is usually cold. In winter the nights are long and cold. ...the winter months. ...the late winter of 1941. N-VAR 2. If an animal or plant winters somewhere or is wintered there, it spends the winter there. The birds will winter outside in an aviary... The young seedlings are usually wintered in a cold frame. ...one of the most important sites for wintering wildfowl. VERB: V adv/prep, be V-ed prep/adv, V-ing, also V n prep/adv 3. If you winter somewhere, you spend the winter there. (FORMAL) The family decided to winter in Nice again. VERB: V prep/adv

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

win'-ter (choreph, from charaph, "to inundate," "overflow"): The rainy season, also the autumn harvest season (Ge 8:22; Ps 74:17; Zec 14:8). It is also the time of cold (Jer 36:22; Am 3:15). The verb "to winter" occurs in Isa 18:6. Cethaw has the same meaning as Choreph (So 2:11). cheimon, corresponds to choreph as the rainy season, and the verb paracheimazo, signifies "to pass the winter" (Ac 27:12), the noun from which is paracheimasia (same place).

See SEASONS.

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

v. n. Hibernate.

Moby Thesaurus

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