midwinter

plural midwinters · alternative mid-winter

1. countableuncountableThe middle of winter.

   IN midwinter the shadow that hung over John gathered into storm-cloud.

   1913, William J[ohn] Locke, chapter XIV, in Stella Maris, London: John Lane, The Bodley Head; […], →OCLC, page 184

2. countableuncountableThe winter solstice; about December 21st or 22nd.

alternative mid-winter

1. not comparableOf or occurring in the middle of winter.

   When my son was born, a midwinter child, he cried pitifully at the ward's lights, and settled to sleep only when he was laid in a big pram with a black hood under a black umbrella.

   2004 January 16, Kathleen Jamie, “Into the dark”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 18 Sep 2019

   3 more examples

   Except for the mid-winter period, when the 11.30 a.m. from Paddington and its opposite number will be withdrawn - Torquay now has seven daily expresses to and from Paddington as compared with five down and six up previously.

   1961 October, “The winter timetables of British Railways: Western Region”, in Trains Illustrated, page 590

   There is aid at hand in the tourist’s personal war midwinter fatigue and ennui—airlines serving the Caribbean islands are at odds with each other’s tariffs, and their competitive juggling of schedules and prices benefits the tourist.

   1965 January 17, “Midwinter Vacations 1965”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC

   For more than a century, groundhogs have been midwinter luminaries, scampering into the spotlight on February 2 to divine whether the second half of the season will be cold or mild.

   2016 February 1, Lisa Rose, “Punxsutawney Phil: Friend or foe? A Groundhog Day investigation”, in CNN, archived from the original on 25 Apr 2016