ruin of the year

plural ruins of the year

1. poeticThe dying back of deciduous plants in late autumn.

   And, adding to the ruins of the year, Distress the footed or the feathered game.

   1816, James Thomson, The seasons; to which is added the life of the author, page 202

   2 more examples

   Oh ! bid them cull the myrtle green, Whose deathless bowers adorn the scene, That round her humid cell appear Saved from the ruins of the year;

   1813, David Irving, A Memorial of Anne Margaret Anderson, the Wife of David Irving

   ...which were certainly alive in the cunning with which they slipped away, the two boys were prancing about like young fawns in the ruin of the year. Wart's shoulder was well again.

   1958, T. H. White, The Once and Future King