winter

plural winters · alternative Winter

1. countableuncountableTraditionally 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.

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

   1785, William Cowper, “Tirocinium: or, A Review of Schools." in The Poems of William Cowper, Vol. II., The Press of C. Whittingham (1822), page 174

   4 more examples

   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.

   a1420, The British Museum Additional MS, 12,056, “Wounds complicated by the Dislocation of a Bone”, in Robert von Fleischhacker, editor, Lanfranc's "Science of cirurgie.", London: K. Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co, translation of original by Lanfranc of Milan, published 1894, →ISBN, page 63

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

   1592, Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 1

   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.

   1650, Thomas Browne, “Of the Cameleon”, in Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], →OCLC, 3rd book, page 133

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

   1897, William Morris, The Water of the Wondrous Isles, volume I, Longmans, Green and Co., published 1914, page 2

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

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

   1814, William Wordsworth, The Excursion

   1 more example

   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.

   2023, Ben Armstrong, Catching Up to Crypto, page 78

3. countablefashionSomeone with dark skin, eyes and hair, seen as best suited to certain colors of clothing.
4. countableobsoleteuncountableAn appliance to be fixed on the front of a grate, to keep a kettle warm, etc.
5. IndiaarchaiccountableuncountableThe rainy season.

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

   1678, Fryer, 410

   3 more 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.

   1584, Barret, in Hakl. ii. 413

   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.

   1610, Finch, in Purchas, i. 423

   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, […]

   1770,—Raynal, tr. 1777, i. 34

present singular third person winters · participle present wintering · participle past wintered · past wintered · alternative Winter

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

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

   1930, Margaret Ayer Barnes, Years of Grace, Part III, Chapter II, page 282

   1 more example

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

   2022 December 27, “Ukraine war: Five ways conflict could go in 2023”, in BBC News

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

plural Winters · alternative Wintour

1. countableA surname from the Germanic languages.
2. countableA unisex given name.
3. A placename:
   1. countableuncountableAn unincorporated community in the Rural Municipality of Senlac, No. 411, Saskatchewan, Canada.
   2. countableuncountableAn unincorporated community in Putnam County, West Virginia, United States.
   3. countableuncountableA small town and village in Sawyer County, Wisconsin, United States.
4. countableuncountableThe personification of winter, wintertime.

plural Winters · alternative Wintour

1. countableuncountablecommunicationsAlternative letter-case form of winter.