snow

plural snows

1. uncountableThe partly frozen, crystalline state of water that falls from the atmosphere as precipitation in flakes; also, the falling of such flakes; and the accumulation of them on the ground or on objects as a white layer.

   Snow is white, / And lieth in the dike. And every man lets it lye.

   1546, John Heywood, chapter IV, in Julian Sharman, editor, The Proverbs of John Heywood. […], London: George Bell and Sons, […], published 1874, →OCLC, part II, page 107

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   Didſt thou but knovv the inly touch of Loue, / Thou vvouldſt as ſoone goe kindle fire vvith ſnovv / As ſeeke to quench the fire of Loue vvith vvords.

   c. 1590–1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene vii], page 28, column 1

   And vvho doth lead them but a paltrey fellovv,? / Long kept in Brittaine at our mothers coſt, / A milkeſopt, one that neuer in his life / Felt ſo much colde as ouer ſhooes in ſnovv: […]

   c. 1593 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The Tragedy of King Richard the Third. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Valentine Sims [and Peter Short] for Andrew Wise, […], published 1597, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii], signature M2, verso

   The top of this Peake [Teide on Tenerife] or Pyramide […] by reaſon of their rare height and affinitie vvith the middle Aerie Region are ſeldome vvithout Snovv.

   1634, T[homas] H[erbert], “[Canaria, Teneriffa]”, in A Relation of Some Yeares Trauaile, Begunne Anno 1626. into Afrique and the Greater Asia, […], London: […] William Stansby, and Jacob Bloome, →OCLC, page 4

   He [Ben Jonson] vvas not onely a profeſſed Imitator of Horace, but a learned Plagiary of all the others; you track him every vvhere in their Snovv: […]

   1668, John Dryden, Of Dramatick Poesie, an Essay, London: […] [Thomas Newcombe] for Henry Herringman, […], →OCLC, page 14

   Hovv, by the fineſt art, the native robe / To vveave; hovv, vvhite as hyperborean ſnovv, / To form the lucid lavvn; […]

   1730, James Thomson, “Autumn. Inscribed to the Right Honourable Arthur Onslow, Esq; Speaker of the House of Commons.”, in The Seasons, London: [s.n.], →OCLC, page 167, lines 857–859

   1. countableAn instance of the falling of snow (etymology 1, noun sense 1); a snowfall; also, a snowstorm.

      We have had several heavy snows this year.

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      At Chriſtmas I no more deſire a Roſe, / Then vviſh a Snovv in Mayes nevv fangled ſhovves: / But like of each thing that in ſeaſon grovves.

      c. 1595–1596 (date written), W. Shakespere [i.e., William Shakespeare], A Pleasant Conceited Comedie Called, Loues Labors Lost. […] (First Quarto), London: […] W[illiam] W[hite] for Cut[h]bert Burby, published 1598, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i], signature [A3], verso

      [H]ovv calm he ſits at eaſe, / Mid ſnovvs of paper, and fierce hail of peaſe?

      1728, [Alexander Pope], “Book the Third”, in The Dunciad. An Heroic Poem. […], Dublin; London: […] A. Dodd, →OCLC, page 47, lines 211–212

      The blasts of autumn drive the winged seeds / Over the earth,—next come the snows, and rain, / And frosts, and storms, which dreary winter leads / Out of his Scythian cave, a savage train; […]

      1817 December (indicated as 1818), Percy B[ysshe] Shelley, “Canto Ninth”, in Laon and Cythna; or, The Revolution of the Golden City: A Vision of the Nineteenth Century. […], London: […] [F]or Sherwood, Neely, & Jones, […]; and C[harles] and J[ames] Ollier, […]; by B[uchanan] M‘Millan, […], →OCLC, stanza XXI, page 203

      [G]reat white tassels, swinging from every tree in the breeze which swept down the glade, tossed in their faces a fragrant snow of blossoms, and glittering drops of perfumed dew.

      1855, Charles Kingsley, “What Befel at La Guayra”, in Westward Ho!: Or, The Voyages and Adventures of Sir Amyas Leigh, Knight, […], volume II, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Macmillan & Co., →OCLC, page 301

   2. countableA period of time when snow falls; a winter.

      They sang, that by his native bowers / He stood, in the last moon of flowers, / And thirty snows had not yet shed / Their glory on the warrior's head; […]

      1838 October, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “[Earlier Poems.] Burial of the Minnisink.”, in Voices of the Night, Cambridge, Mass.: […] John Owen, published 1839, →OCLC, stanza 4, page 53

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      The path by which we twain did go, / Which led by tracts that pleased us well, / Thro' four sweet years arose and fell, / From flower to flower, from snow to snow: […]

      1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XXII”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 37

   3. countableAn accumulation or spread of snow.

      [I]t well may happen yonder, where the far snows blanch / Mute Mont Blanc, that who stands near them sees and hears an avalanche,— […]

      1877 September 14, Robert Browning, “La Saisiaz”, in La Saisiaz: The Two Poets of Croisic, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], published 1878, →OCLC, page 24

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      VVhen VVinter ſhuts the Seas, and fleecy Snovvs / Make Houſes vvhite, ſhe to the Merchant goes: / Rich Cryſtals of the Rock She takes up there, / Huge Agat Vaſes, and old China VVare: […]

      1693, Decimus Junius Juvenalis, John Dryden, transl., “[The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis.] The Sixth Satyr”, in The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis. Translated into English Verse. […] Together with the Satires of Aulus Persius Flaccus. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson […], →OCLC, page 97, lines 223–226

      This River [the Rubicon] is not ſo contemptible as it is generally repreſented, and vvas much increas'd by the melting of the Snovvs vvhen [Julius] Cæſar paſs'd it, according to Lucan.

      1705, J[oseph] Addison, “Ferrara, Ravenna, Rimini”, in Remarks on Several Parts of Italy, &c. in the Years 1701, 1702, 1703, London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 125

      It must be so—I will arise and waken / The multitude, and like a sulphurous hill [volcano], / Which on a sudden from its snows has shaken / The swoon of ages, it shall burst and fill / The world with cleansing fire: […]

      1817 December (indicated as 1818), Percy B[ysshe] Shelley, “Canto Second”, in Laon and Cythna; or, The Revolution of the Golden City: A Vision of the Nineteenth Century. […], London: […] [F]or Sherwood, Neely, & Jones, […]; and C[harles] and J[ames] Ollier, […]; by B[uchanan] M‘Millan, […], →OCLC, stanza XIV, page 39

      [H]is mind at least will defy your influence, as the snows of that Mount Blanc which we saw together, shrink not under the heat of the summer sun.

      1820 March, [Walter Scott], chapter VI, in The Monastery. A Romance. […], volume III, Edinburgh: […] Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and for Archibald Constable and Co., and John Ballantyne, […], →OCLC, page 159

2. Something resembling snow (etymology 1, noun sense 1) in appearance or color.
   1. countablecookingA dish or component of a dish resembling snow, especially one made by whipping egg whites until creamy.

      apple snow    lemon snow

   2. uncountableThe white color of snow.

      The daughters of the land were beautiful, with blue eyes and fair hair, and bosoms of snow, […]

      1827, [Walter Scott], chapter XII, in Chronicles of the Canongate; […], volume I (The Highland Widow), Edinburgh: […] [Ballantyne and Co.] for Cadell and Co.; London: Simpkin and Marshall, →OCLC, page 237

   3. countablefigurativelyuncountableClusters of white flowers.

      A scent of pine-wood from a tent-like pile of planks outside the open door mingled itself with the scent of the elder-bushes which were spreading their summer snow close to the open window opposite; […]

      1859, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], “The Workshop”, in Adam Bede […], volume I, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book first, pages 1–2

   4. countablefigurativelyuncountableThe moving pattern of random dots seen on a radar or television screen, etc., when no transmission signal is being received or when there is interference.

      Near-synonym: static

      1 more example

      I took my TV over on the first trip. I got a beauty. It's four years old, color, but when I had a little snow and asked the repairman to come in, he told me never, never turn this set in for a new one. They don't make them like this anymore, he said. He got rid of the snow and all he charged me was two dollars.

      1977, John Cheever, Falconer (A Borzoi Book), New York, N.Y.: Alfred A[braham] Knopf, →ISBN, page 209

      Synonyms: shash, static

   5. countablefigurativelyuncountableSea foam; sea spray.
   6. countablefigurativelyuncountableAlso in the plural: white hair on an (older) person's head.

      Indeed, to the laſt days of her life, my Lady Viſcounteſs had the comfort of fancying herſelf beautiful, and perſiſted in blooming up to the very midſt of winter, painting roſes on her cheeks long after their natural ſeaſon, and attiring herſelf like ſummer though her head was covered with ſnow.

      1852, William Makepeace Thackeray, “Relates How Francis, Fourth Viscount, Arrives at Castlewood”, in The History of Henry Esmond, Esq. […] , volume I, London: […] Smith, Elder, & Company, […], →OCLC, pages 53–54

   7. countablefigurativelypoeticuncountableWhite marble.

      Ere now marmoreal floods had spread their couch / Of perdurable snow, or granite wrought / Its skyward impulse from earth's hearth of fire / Up to insanest heights.

      1848, Philip James Bailey, “Proëm”, in Festus: A Poem, 3rd edition, London: William Pickering, →OCLC, page vii

   8. countablefigurativelyslanguncountableMoney, especially silver coins.
   9. countabledatedfigurativelyslanguncountableWhite linen which has been washed.
   10. countableuncountablechemistryChiefly with a descriptive word: a substance other than water resembling snow when frozen; specifically, frozen carbon dioxide.

       Clad in a coldsuit Jael trudged through a thin layer of CO₂ snow towards the gates of the Arena.

       2008, Neal Asher, “Alien Archaeology”, in The Gabble and Other Stories, London: Tor, →ISBN, page 144

   11. abbreviationclippingcountableuncountablemarine biologyClipping of marine snow (“sinking organic detritus in the ocean”).

       Lower down, in the 95 per cent of the ocean where light does not penetrate, many living things feed on ‘marine snow’, the steady drizzle of particles of dead matter, whitish in colour, gradually sinking from the euphotic zone above. Other animals then feed on the ‘snow’ eaters.

       2012, Caspar Henderson, “Sea Butterfly”, in The Book of Barely Imagined Beings: A 21st Century Bestiary, 1st American edition, Chicago, Ill.; London: University of Chicago Press, published 2013, →ISBN, marginal note, page 286

   12. slanguncountablePowder cocaine.

       Aren’t I telling you that’s why I didn’t taste it? […] Besides, if it wasn’t poison, it might be ‘snow’ or something.

       1930, Dorothy L. Sayers, chapter X, in Strong Poison, New York, N.Y.: Avon Books, published April 1967, →ISBN, page 85

       Synonyms: blow, nose candy, benzoylmethylecgonine, blow, Bolivian marching powder, booger sugar, boots, California corn flakes

   13. countableslanguncommonuncountableAn opiate powder, whether heroin or morphine.

present singular third person snows · participle present snowing · past snowed · dialectal past snew · participle past snowed · dialectal participle past snew · dialectal participle past snown · first person past singular snowed · archaic present second person singular snowest · past second person singular snowed · archaic past second person singular snowedst · present singular third person snows · archaic present singular third person snoweth · past singular third person snowed · past plural snowed · past subjunctive snowed

1. impersonalintransitivePreceded by the dummy subject it: to have snow (noun etymology 1, noun sense 1) fall from the atmosphere.

   It is snowing.    It started to snow.

   3 more examples

   In wynter whan it ſnoweth it is good ſyttynge by a good fyre: […]

   1530 July 28 (Gregorian calendar), Iohan Palsgraue [i.e., John Palsgrave], “The Table of Verbes”, in Lesclarcissement de la langue francoyse⸝ […], [London]: […] [Richard Pynson] fynnysshed by Iohan Haukyns, →OCLC, 3rd boke, folio ccclxv, verso, column 2; reprinted Geneva: Slatkine Reprints, October 1972, →OCLC

   Then there was the watch with staff and lanthorn crying the hour, and the kind of weather; and those who woke up at his voice and turned them round in bed, were glad to hear it rained, or snowed, or blew, or froze, for very comfort's sake.

   1841 February–November, Charles Dickens, “Barnaby Rudge. Chapter 16.”, in Master Humphrey’s Clock, volume III, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, page 21

   Oh! the weather outside is frightful / But the fire is so delightful / And since we've no place to go, / Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!

   Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!, New York, N.Y.: Edwin H. Morris & Company, 1945, →OCLC

   1. alsofigurativelyimpersonalintransitiveOf a thing: to fall like snow.

      Time on this Head has ſnovv’d, yet ſtill ’tis borne / Aloft; nor thinks but on another’s Grave.

      1743, [Edward Young], “Night the Fifth. The Relapse. […]”, in The Complaint. Or, Night-Thoughts on Life, Death, & Immortality. Night the Fifth, London: […] R[obert] Dodsley […], and sold by M[ary] Cooper […], →OCLC, page 37

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      She [Diana] hath ſent (to plague vs) a huge ſauadge Boare, / Of an vn-meaſured height and magnitude. / […] / His briſtles poynted like a range of pikes / Ranck't on his backe: his foame ſnovves vvhere he feeds / His tuskes are like the Indian Oliphants.

      1613, Thomas Heywood, The Brazen Age, […], London: […] Nicholas Okes, […], →OCLC, Act II, signature [C4], verso

      And there the Ionian father of the rest; / A million wrinkles carved his skin; / A hundred winters snow'd upon his breast, / From cheek and throat and chin.

      1842, Alfred Tennyson, “The Palace of Art”, in Poems. […], volume I, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 145

      Then all at once he saw, staring him in the face, a knave of spades. The shock was too great for even his iron nerves; his hand trembled, his fingers involuntarily relaxed, and away shot the cards, flying over the platform and snowing upon the audience in the front rows.

      1894, S[abine] Baring-Gould, “Beggar-my-neighbour”, in The Queen of Love […], volume I, London: Methuen & Co. […], →OCLC, page 153

2. transitiveTo cause (something) to fall like snow.

   Ride ten thouſand daies and nights, / Till age ſnovv vvhite haires on thee, […]

   1590s (date written), J[ohn] Donne, “Song [Go and Catch a Falling Star]”, in Poems, […] with Elegies on the Authors Death, London: […] M[iles] F[lesher] for Iohn Marriot, […], published 1633, →OCLC, stanza 2, page 196

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   [A]t the ſetting out of a verie ſtatelie tragedie named Dido, wherein the quéenes banket (with Eneas narration of the deſtruction of Troie) was liuelie deſcribed in a marchpaine patterne, there was alſo a goodlie ſight of hunters with full crie of a kennell of hounds, Mercurie and Iris deſcending and aſcending from and to an high place, the tempeſt wherein it hailed ſmall confects, rained roſewater, and ſnew an artificiall kind of ſnow, all ſtrange, maruellous, ⁊ [and] abundant.

   1587 January, Raphael Holinshed, “The Chronicles of England, from the Yeare of Our Lord 1576, where Raphaell Holinshed left; Supplied and Continued to this Present Yeare 1586: […]”, in The Third Volume of Chronicles, Beginning at Duke William the Norman, Commonlie Called the Conqueror; […], 2nd edition, volume III, London: […] [Henry Denham] […] at the expenses of Iohn Harison, George Bishop, Rafe Newberie, Henrie Denham, and Thomas Woodcocke, →OCLC, page 1355

   Let the skie raine Potatoes: let it thunder, to the tune of Greene-ſleeues, haile-kiſſing Comfits, and ſnovv Eringoes: […]

   c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merry Wiues of Windsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene v], page 59, column 1

   [A]s a Sauadge Bore that (hunted longe, / Aſſayld and ſet vp) vvith his onely eyes, / Svvimming in fire keepes of the baying hounds, / Though ſuncke himſelfe, yet houlds his anger vp, / And ſnovves it forth in foame; […] So fares the furious Duke, and vvith his lookes, / Doth teach death horrors; […]

   c. 1607–1608 (date written), George Chapman, “The Tragedie of Charles, Duke of Byron”, in The Conspiracie, and Tragedie of Charles Duke of Byron, Marshall of France. […], [London]: […] G[eorge] Eld for Thomas Thorppe, […], published 1608, →OCLC, Act V, signature [Q4], recto

   [I]n the situation of the theatrical mechanist, who, when the white paper which represented his shower of snow was exhausted, continued the storm by snowing brown [paper], I drew on my memory as long as I could, and, when that failed, eked it out with invention.

   1827 October 1, [Walter Scott], “Introduction”, in Chronicles of the Canongate; […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] [Ballantyne and Co.] for Cadell and Co.; London: Simpkin and Marshall, →OCLC, pages xxi–xxii

   [H]e started on his feet, / Tore the king's letter, snow'd it down, and rent / The wonder of the loom thro' warp and woof / From skirt to skirt; […]

   1847, Alfred Tennyson, “Part I”, in The Princess: A Medley, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 15

3. transitiveTo cover or scatter (a place or thing) with, or as if with, snow.

   Even the Horſe wee ride / Vnſhod, would founder, who takes greateſt pride, / When the moſt curb'd, and playing with the bit, / Hee ſnowes the ground [with froth from his mouth], and doth the Spurre forgit.

   1635 November 8 (first performance; Gregorian calendar; published 1635), Thomas Heywood, “Londini Sinus Salutis, or, Londons Harbour of Health, and Happinesse. […]. The Speech of Mars.”, in The Dramatic Works of Thomas Heywood […], volume IV, London: John Pearson […], published 1874, →OCLC, page 295

   1 more example

   There are three Fates, three virgin Sisters, who / Rejoicing in their wind-outspeeding wings, / Their heads with flour snowed over white and new, / Sit in a vale round which Parnassus flings / Its circling skirts— […]

   a. 1823 (date written), Homer, “Hymn to Mercury. Translated from the Greek of Homer.”, in Percy Bysshe Shelley, transl., edited by Mary W[ollstonecraft] Shelley, Posthumous Poems of Percy Bysshe Shelley, London: […] [C. H. Reynell] for John and Henry L[eigh] Hunt, […], published 1824, →OCLC, stanza XCIV, page 326

4. figurativelytransitiveTo cause (hair) to turn white; also, to cause (someone) to have white hair.

   Ah, courteous England, thy kinde arms I ſee / VVide-stretched out to ſaue and vvelcom me. / Thou (tender Mother) vvilt not ſuffer Age / To ſnovve my locks in Forrein Pilgrimage: […]

   1608, [Guillaume de Salluste] Du Bartas, “[Du Bartas His Second Weeke, […]. Noah. […].] The Colonies. The III. Part of the II. Day of the II. Week.”, in Josuah Sylvester, transl., Du Bartas His Deuine Weekes and Workes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Humfrey Lownes [and are to be sold by Arthur Iohnson […]], published 1611, →OCLC, page 355

5. figurativelyslangtransitiveTo convince or hoodwink (someone), especially by presenting confusing information or through flattery.

   She'll expose you / When she snows you / 'Cause she knows you

   1974 (date written), Donna Weiss, Jackie DeShannon, “Bette Davis Eyes”, in Mistaken Identity, performed by Kim Carnes, Hollywood, Los Angeles, Calif.: EMI America Records, published 10 March 1981

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   […] I concluded that the best thing would be to try to snow him a little, so I said that I had heard many marvelous reports about the Wariri. As I couldn't think of any details just then, I was just as glad that he didn't ask me to be specific.

   1959 February 23, Saul Bellow, chapter XI, in Henderson the Rain King […], New York, N.Y.: Viking Press, →OCLC, page 133

   1. figurativelyslangtransitivecard gamesTo bluff (an opponent) in draw poker by playing a hand which has no value, or by refusing to draw any cards.

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      [T]he Adventurer knew that despite what [Mike] Caro had said, there was a good chance that he was "snowing" (playing a hand that had no value and could win only if his opponent threw his cards away). Notice that this creates a dilemma for the Adventurer. If he bets and Caro is on a snow, he will lose a bet, but if he checks and his opponent is not on a snow, he also will lose a bet.

      1999 May, Mason Malmuth, “Free Bets and Other Topics”, in Gambling Theory and Other Topics, Las Vegas, Nev.: [Creel Printers for] Two Plus Two Publishing, →ISBN, part 2 (Theory in Practice), page 84

6. USfigurativelyslangtransitivechiefly passive voiceTo cause (someone) to be under the effect of a drug; to dope, to drug.

   She looked snowed, weaved around funny, didn't seem to know much what was going on.

   1934 July, Raymond Chandler, “Smart-Aleck Kill”, in The Smell of Fear, London: Hamish Hamilton, published December 1965, →OCLC, section VII, page 202

1. not comparableDone because the alternate outcome is very unlikely to pass.

plural snows · alternative snaw

1. historicalnauticalA square-rigged sailing vessel similar to a brig formerly used as a warship, with a foremast, a mainmast, and a trysail mast immediately abaft (behind) the mainmast.

   An ESTIMATE made of the Annual Expence of a Snow of 120 Tons, and 48 Men (Officers included) Mounting 12 Carriage Guns, beſides Swivels.

   1763, Stephen Theodore Janssen [i.e., Sir Stephen Janssen, 4th Baronet], Smuggling Laid Open in All Its Extensive and Destructive Branches; […], London: […] W. Owen, and W. Nicoll, →OCLC, page 263

plural Snows · alternative Snowe

1. A surname.