winter — English Dictionary

Noun

1. 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.

   Usage

   • Countable
   • Uncountable

   Examples

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   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 brynge togidere þe brynkis eiþer þe disiuncture after þe techynge þat schal be seid in þe chapitle of algebra.

   And after summer evermore succeeds Barren winter, with his wrathful nipping cold.

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   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 often made) will long ſubſist without a viſible ſuſtentation.

   There shall he learn, ere sixteen winters old, That …

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   […] a woman, tall, and strong of aspect, of some thirty winters by seeming, [...]

2. The period of decay, old age, death, or the like.

   Usage

   • Countable
   • Figurative
   • Poetic
   • Uncountable

   Examples

   Life's autumn past, I stand on winter's verge.

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   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.

3. Someone with dark skin, eyes and hair, seen as best suited to certain colors of clothing.

   Usage

   • Countable

4. An appliance to be fixed on the front of a grate, to keep a kettle warm, etc.

   Usage

   • Countable
   • Obsolete
   • Uncountable

5. The rainy season.

   Usage

   • India
   • Archaic
   • Countable
   • Uncountable

   Examples

   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.

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   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 and raine.

   In Winter (when they rarely stir) they have a Mumjama, or Wax Cloth to throw over it […]

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   The mere breadth of these mountains divides summer from winter, that is to say, the season of fine weather from the rainy […] all that is meant by winter in India is the time of the year when the clouds […] are driven violently by the winds against the mountains, […]

Verb

1. To spend the winter (in a particular place).

   Usage

   • Intransitive

   Examples

   She had summered in England and France and Germany and Switzerland. She had wintered in Italy and Egypt and India and Spain.

   Those who seek to invade another country anywhere across the great Eurasian steppes are condemned eventually to winter in it.

2. To store something (for instance animals) somewhere over winter to protect it from cold.

   Usage

   • Transitive

Noun

1. the coldest season of the year; in the Northern Hemisphere it extends from the winter solstice to the vernal equinox

   Synonyms

   wintertime

   Broader terms

   seasontime of year

Verb

1. spend the winter

   Synonyms

   overwinter

   Broader terms

   spendpass

   Examples

   We wintered on the Riviera

   Shackleton's men overwintered on Elephant Island