Winter sb.¹

Forms: Sing. 1– winter; 3 Orm. winnterr, 3–7 wynter, (4 weinter, Sc. vyntir), 4–5 wintur, wintre, wyntre, wyntir, -ur, -yr(e, (4–6 vynter, Sc. vintir), 5 wintir, (wintare, winttur, whynter, vyntyr, 6 vintter). Plural. 1 wintru (gen. wintra), 2–5 wintre, 4–5 wyntre; dat. 1 wintrum, 2 wintron, 2–3 -en; 1–6 winter, (3 Orm. winnterr, 4 vynter, etc. as in sing.), 4–6 wynter; 1 wintras, 3–5 wintres, 4–5 wyntres, (4 winteris, -es, etc.), 4– winters; 4–5 wyntren. [OE. winter str. m. = OFris. winter, OS. wintar (MLG., MDu., LG., Du. winter), OHG. wintar (MHG., G. winter), ON. vetr, earlier vettr, vittr (Sw., Da. vinter, from LG.), Goth. wintrus:—*wentrus, prob. f. nasalized form of the Indo-Eur. base wed-, wod-, ud- to be wet, found in WET a., WATER sb., OTTER.

  Originally a u-stem, OE. winter had regularly gen. (rare) and dat. sing. in -a; but the ordinary gen. sing. in -es, dat. sing. in -e, and nom. pl. in -as, in -u, and without inflection, show general assimilation to other declensions.]

  1.  The fourth and coldest season of the year, coming between autumn and spring; reckoned astronomically from the winter solstice to the vernal equinox, i.e., in the northern hemisphere from the 22nd of December to the 20th of March; in popular use comprising the months of December, January and February (or, according to some, November, December and January); also often in contradistinction to summer, the colder half of the year (cf. MIDWINTER). In the southern hemisphere corresponding in time to the northern summer.

  (a)  In general use. (Also personified.)

c. 888.  Ælfred, Boeth., xxi. § 1. On sumera hit bið wearm, & on wintra ceald.

a. 1000, c. 1200, a. 1225.  [see SUMMER sb.¹ (a)].

a. 1250.  Owl & Night., 458. Ne recche ich nouht of wintres teone.

1377.  Langl., P. Pl., B. XVII. 226. As men may se in wyntre Ysekeles in eueses þorw hete of þe sonne, Melteth in a mynut while.

1382.  Wyclif, Isa. xviii. 6. Alle the bestes of erthe vp on hym shul dwelle al wynter.

c. 1450.  Capgrave, Life St. Gilbert (1910), 70. He wered no mo clothis in Wyntir þann in Somyr.

c. 1460.  J. Russell, Bk. Nurture, 766. Wyntur with his lokkys grey febille & old.

c. 1530.  Songs, Carols, etc. (E.E.T.S.), 133. Wynter etythe, that somer getith.

1532–3.  Durham Househ. Bk. (Surtees), 192. In agestamento unius equi in vynter,… 16 d.

1551.  Recorde, Cast. Knowl. (1556), 32. Haruest … continueth till the twelft day of December, and then doth the Son entre into Capricorn, & Winter beginneth.

1600.  Shaks., A. Y. L., V. iv. 142. You and you, are sure together, As the Winter to fowle Weather.

1647.  Cowley, Mistr., Bathing in River, 28. When rig’orous Winter binds you up with Frost.

1719.  [see SUMMER sb.¹ 1 (a)].

1786.  Burns, Twa Dogs, 192. Thro’ winter’s cauld, or simmer’s heat.

1820.  Shelley, Sensit. Pl., III. 86. Winter came: the wind was his whip: One choppy finger was on his lip.

1824.  Loudon, Encycl. Gardening (ed. 2), 893. The season called winter by the natives of South America, lasting from May to November.

1840.  Dickens, Old C. Shop, lii. Store of fire-wood for the winter.

  (b)  In particularized use, esp. with qualification, or as denoting this season in a certain year.

Beowulf, 1128. Hengest ða ʓyt wælfaʓne winter wunode mid Finn.

971.  Blickl. Hom., 213. Wæs se winter eac þy ʓeare toþæs grim þæet maniʓ man his feorh … ʓesealde.

c. 1205.  Lay., 6034. Auere alche wintre inne Wales heo wuneden.

1375.  Barbour, Bruce, IV. 338. In Rauchryne … [he] Lay till the vyntir neir wes gane.

1393.  Langl., P. Pl., C. XIII. 198. Alter an hard wynter.

1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., IV. iv. (Add. MS. 27944). If þe wintir tofore honde was as springinge tyme hote and moyst.

1590.  Shaks., Com. Err., III. ii. 100. I warrant, her ragges and the Tallow in them, will burne a Poland Winter.

1634.  Laud, Diary, Oct.–Dec. God bless us in the spring, after this green winter.

1740.  C’tess Pomfret, in C’tess Hartford’s Corr. (1805), II. 161. Mr. Walpole and Mr. Dashwood stay the winter.

1810.  Crabbe, Borough, xxii. 232. A winter pass’d since Peter saw the town, And summer-lodgers were again come down.

  (c)  Phr. winter and summer: see SUMMER sb.¹ 1 (c).

  b.  With reference to the chilling or injurious effect of winter, esp. on plants; transf. a period resembling winter, wintry or cold weather.

c. 1000.  Sax. Leechd., III. 274. Se wind [zephirus] towyrpð & ðawað ælcne winter.

1599.  Dallam, in Early Voy. Levant (Hakl. Soc.), 84. This day we had bothe wynter and somer.

1607.  Shaks., Timon, III. vi. 33. The Swallow followes not Summer more willing, then we your Lordship. Tim. Nor more willingly leaues Winter, such Summer Birds are men.

1697.  Dryden, Æneis, IX. 913. When … bellowing Clouds … with an armed Winter strew the Ground.

1757.  [Burke], Europ. Settlem. Amer., VII. xxii. II. 241. The second sort, which … bears the winter better, is a more tall and vigorous plant.

1801.  Farmer’s Mag., Nov., 467. They stood the Winter well.

  c.  In fig. and allusive use, esp. in reference to old age, or to a time or state of affliction or distress.

1590.  Greene, Never too Late (1600), D 1. I am driuen in the winter of my yeares to abide the brunt of all stormes.

1594.  Shaks., Rich. III., I. i. 1. Now is the Winter of our Discontent, Made glorious Summer by this Son of Yorke. Ibid. (1606), Tr. & Cr., IV. v. 24.

1668.  R. Steele, Husbandman’s Calling, iii. (1672), 35. Prosperity … nourisheth so many weeds, that the winter of affliction hath much ado to master them.

1746.  Shenstone, Song, Winter, 16. When will relenting Delia chase The winter of my soul?

1829.  I. Taylor, Enthus., x. 296. What has been done is not lost; the seed sown may spring up, even after a century of winter.

1849.  Froude, Nem. Faith, vii. (ed. 2), 48. It is night and day … with all of us, if we want to keep in health. To be sure, now and then there will come a North Pole winter.

1859.  Tennyson, Passing of Arthur, 4. When the man was … In the white winter of his age.

  2.  Put for ‘year’: nearly always pl. with a numeral; often in expressions referring to a person’s age.

  In early use as a mere synonym of ‘year’; later poet. or rhet., chiefly in reference to advanced age or to a protracted period of hardship or misfortune (cf. 1 c, and SUMMER sb.¹ 2). See also THRINTER, TWINTER.

  Beowulf, 2209. Syððan Beowulfe bræde rice on hand ʓehwearf; he ʓeheold tela fiftiʓ wintru.

a. 900.  Saxon Geneal., in O. E. Texts, 179. Ða wæs agan his eldo xxiii wintra.

c. 1000.  Ags. Gosp., John ii. 20. Þis tempel wæs ʓetimbrod on six & feowertiʓon wintron [Hatton wintren].

1154.  O. E. Chron. (Laud MS.), an. 1137. & ðet lastede þa xix wintre wile Stephne was king.

a. 1200.  Moral Ode, 4, in Lamb. Hom., 159. Þah ich bo a wintre ald to ȝung ich em on rede.

c. 1205.  Lay., 9028. Tou and twenti wintre þis lond he iwalde. Ibid., 9695. Ah al oðer hit iwarð inne þan twam wintren.

c. 1275.  Passion of our Lord, 132, in O. E. Misc., 41. Vele wintre hit is ago þe prophete hit seyde.

1377.  Langl., P. Pl., B. XII. 3. I haue folwed þe in feithe þis fyue and fourty wyntre.

  c. 893.  K. Ælfred, Oros., I. xiv. Þa Læcedemonia besætan þa burʓ Mæs[ian]e x winter.

a. 1000.  Be monna wyrdum, 9. God ana wat hwæt him weaxendum winter bringað.

c. 1200.  Ormin, 15594. Fowwerrtiȝ winnterr ȝedenn forþ & ȝet tær tekenn sexe.

c. 1250.  Gen. & Ex., 919. Loth was fifti winter hold.

13[?].  Northern Passion, 935 (Camb. Gg. 5. 31). Þis thre vynter.

c. 1386.  Chaucer, Monk’s T., 69. Fully twenty wynter yeer by yeere He hadde of Israel the gouernance.

c. 1400.  Rule St. Benet (prose), lxx. 46. Til þai be o fiftene winter elde.

14[?].  Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1903), 128/175. The elder broþer hade a Sonne to clerke, Well of fyftene wynter of age.

1509.  Barclay, Shyp of Folys (1874), I. 42. An hundreth wynter [ed. 1570 winters].

1522.  World & Child (facs.), A iij b. Now I am .xix. wynter olde.

  c. 1250.  Gen. & Ex., 1211. Wintres forð-wexen on ysaac.

13[?].  Cursor M., 20832 (Edin.). Þis leuedi … liuid bot winteris .vij. and .ix.

c. 1380.  Wyclif, Sel. Wks., III. 502. Holy Kirke hafs ben in erroure mony hundred wynters.

c. 1400.  St. Alexius (Cotton), 261. A gayne xvij wyntersende.

1470–85.  Malory, Arthur, X. xxxiii. 467. Thus Anglydes endured yeres and wynters tyl Alysander was bygge and stronge.

1593.  Shaks., Rich. II., I. iii. 260. What is sixe Winters, they are quickely gone?

1612.  Two Noble K., V. i. 114. I knew a man Of eightie winters.

1784.  Cowper, Tiroc., 210. Ere sixteen winters old.

1833.  Tennyson, Palace of Art, 139. A hundred winters snowed upon his breast.

  c. 1400.  St. Jer. 15 Tokens, 22. In þilk age he schal arise þat god was inne ded, Of litel more þan xxx^ti wyntren.

  sing.  c. 1412.  Hoccleve, De Reg. Princ., 5217. The ryot þat haþ ben with-in þis lande … many a wyntres space.

c. 1460.  Metham, Wks. (1916), 84. Jon Metham … tranlatyd yt in to Englysch the xxv^tl wyntyr off hys age.

  3.  attrib. passing into adj. a. = Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of winter; adapted or appropriate to, used or occupied in, winter; existing, appearing, active, flourishing, or performed in winter.

  (a)  of natural phenomena, animals, plants, etc.

a. 1000.  Phœnix, 18. Ne wearm weder ne winterscur.

1390.  Gower, Conf., I. 35. The stormy wynter shoures.

c. 1400.  Laud Troy Bk., 3576. Wyntir-wedur.

1576–7.  Wills & Inv. Durham (Surtees), II. 318. v whyes, of iiij yeres olde, vj winter whies, 18l.

1585.  Higins, Junius’ Nomencl., 55/2. Alcedo, alcyon,… a winter birde commonly called the kings fisher.

1596.  Shaks., Tam. Shr., IV. iii. 110. Thou Flea, thou Nit, thou winter cricket thou.

1600.  Knaresb. Wills (Surtees), I. 223. I geve to Anne … one old winter stocke of bees.

1600.  Shaks., A. Y. L., II. vii. 174. Blow, blow, thou winter winde.

1637.  Rutherford, Lett. to R. Stuart, 17 June. The winter-well will goe dry again in summer.

1639.  J. Clarke, Parœm., 263. Winter thunder, is old mens wonder.

1653.  Walton, Angler, To Rdr. A 7. Winter-flies, all Anglers know,… are as useful as an Almanack out of date.

1717.  Pope, Iliad, X. 507. His Coursers … white as Winter-Snow.

1717.  Prior, Alma, II. 534. Cast your Eye By Night upon a Winter-Sky.

1751.  Young, Nt. Th., VII. 34. Repelling Winter Blasts with Mud and Straw.

1773.  G. White, Selborne, To Pennant, 9 Nov. The … stock-dove … seldom appearing till towards the end of November; is usually the latest winter-bird of passage.

1813.  Scott, Rokeby, III. xxviii. The rose … shall bloom in winter snow, Ere we two meet again.

1850.  Beck’s Florist, 115. A pleasing and interesting winter-tree is the Glastonbury Thorn.

1856.  Kane, Arctic Expl., I. xx. 244. The most solid winter-ice is open here and there.

1869.  Tozer, Highl. Turkey, II. 136. A … bridge … across the bed of a winter torrent.

1869.  Tennyson, Passing of Arthur, 22. The winter moon, Brightening the skirts of a long cloud.

  (b)  of clothing, provisions, etc., accommodation (also WINTER-HOUSE, WINTER QUARTERS); of localities in their winter state and things serviceable in winter.

c. 893.  K. Ælfred, Oros., IV. viii. Þæt he buton sorʓe mehte on þæm wintersetle ʓewunian.

a. 1000.  Phœnix, 250. Forst & snaw … eorþan þeccað winterʓewædum.

c. 1000.  Rectitudines, ix. (Liebermann 450). VIII pund cornes to mete, i sceap oððe III p.’ to wintersufle.

1395.  Cartular. Abb. de Whiteby (Surtees, 1881), II. 568. De wynterfare … xxvis. De lentynfare … xi li. xs. iid. De halfare … xviii s.

c. 1400[?].  Lydg., Æsop’s Fab., iii. 98. The lawe dide hym compelle … his wynter flees to selle.

c. 1440.  Pallad. on Husb., I. 331. The wintir wonyng.

1473.  Rental Bk. Cupar-Angus (1879), I. 188. Pasture … reseruyt to the abbay, safe the wynter pastur.

1483.  Cath. Angl., 420/1. A Wyntir haule, hibernium, hibernaculum.

1538.  Elyot, Dict., Tablinum, was a wynter parlour, wherein were painted tables and bokes of stories.

1568.  Knollys, in Cal. Scott. Pap. (1900), II. 513. Unprovided of sufficient wynter garments.

1575.  Wills & Inv. N. C. (Surtees, 1835), I. 406. Another Close for Winter ground.

1593.  Shaks., Lucr., 1218. As winter meads when sun doth melt their snow.

1628.  May, Virg. Georg., I. 15. Some sit up late at winter-fires.

1653.  Walton, Angler, xii. 222. A winter bait for a Roch.

1675.  Hannah Woolley, Gentlew. Comp., 215. Provide your Winter-Butter and Cheese in the Summer.

1694.  Motteux, Rabelais, IV. xxiv. 102. Have some winter Boots made of it, they’le never take in a drop of Water.

1713.  C’tess Winchilsea, Misc. Poems, 36. Birds have dropt their Winter-plumes.

1727.  Gay, Begg. Op., III. vi. 46. Black Velvet Scarfs … are a handsome Winter-wear.

1729.  Fenton, in Waller’s Wks., Observ. p. xxxiv. When the Sun retir’d … to the six Winter-Signs of the Zodiac; short’ning the days.

1735.  Somerville, Chase, III. 97. So Ships in Winter-Seas … defy the Storm.

1760, 1791.  Winter-lodge [see HIBERNACULUM 3, HIBERNACLE].

1818.  Scott, Rob Roy, xxvi. Sic as folk tell ower at a winter-ingle.

1819.  Keats, Eve of St. Mark, 77. The warm angled winter-screen.

1842.  W. F. Ainsworth, Trav. Asia Minor, II. 394. The winter road … takes the longer portion of valley.

1842.  Loudon, Suburban Hort., 677. [Celery] is … cultivated as a winter salad.

1844.  Stephens, Bk. Farm, II. 484. To harrow it before cross-ploughing the winter-furrow.

1847.  W. C. L. Martin, The Ox, 35/2. After being kept on winter-fodder, they are turned out to graze in the spring.

1850.  Tennyson, In Mem., xxx. The winds … We heard them sweep the winter land.

1855.  Orr’s Circ. Sci., Inorg. Nat., 38. A glacier … is the outlet of … vast reservoirs of snow, being a prolongation of the winter-world above.

1894.  G. Armatage, Horse, v. 73. A horse with his natural winter coat.

1904.  Bridges, Demeter, I. 282. I think he watch’d a summer-butterfly Creep out all crumpled from his winter-case.

1911.  J. Ward, Roman Era in Brit., iv. 77. There was a ‘winter-room’ on the south side, also a large projecting latrine.

  (c)  of times and seasons. (See also WINTER-DAY, TIDE, TIME.)

a. 1000.  Genesis, 370. & moste [ic] ane tid ute weorþan, wesan ane winterstunde.

1390.  Gower, Conf., I. 81. The blake wynter nyht.

c. 1400.  Brut, I. 194. He wolde nouȝt abide in Scotland in wynter seson.

1508.  Dunbar, Tua Mariit Wemen, 77. The lang winter nicht.

1559.  W. Cunningham, Cosmogr. Glasse, 34. The wynter tropike or circle of retorning from the South.

1577.  Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., I. 11. Thinges doone … in the Winter morninges. Ibid., 41. The Male [Hemp] … is made vp in bundels to be knockt and shaled in Winter euenynges.

1707.  Freind, Peterborow’s Cond. Sp., 223. Marching in the stony Mountains, and in a Winter-season.

1825.  Hook, Sayings, Ser. II. I. Man of many Friends, 156. The rosy May, though fashionably a winter month, led on the smiling summer of nature, and June … was fast approaching.

1869.  Lowell (title of poem), A Winter Evening Hymn to my Fire.

  (d)  of actions or conditions.

a. 1310.  in Wright, Lyric P., xiii. 43. A-way is huere wynter wo.

1616.  Surfl. & Markh., Country Farm, V. xviii. 555. In October you shall giue it the fourth ardor or earing, which is called Winter-ridging.

1625.  Bacon, Ess., Prophecies (Arb.), 537. They ought … to serue, but for Winter Talke, by the Fire side.

1677.  Hubbard, Pres. St. New-Eng. (1865), I. 165. Some of the stoutest of the Narhagansets that had escaped the Winter-brunt.

a. 1700.  Evelyn, Diary, 14 Nov. 1666. I went my winter circle thro’ my district.

1711.  Swift, Cond. Allies, 52. Eight Thousand Men, for whose Winter Campaign the Queen was willing to give forty Thousand Pounds.

1725.  Winter pruning [see SUMMER sb.¹ 4 a (e)].

1726–46.  Thomson, Winter, 573. Thus in some deep retirement would I pass The winter-glooms with friends of pliant soul.

1809.  Phil. Trans., XCIX. 317. That very common … disease of our climate, the winter cough.

1836–9.  M. Hall, in Todd’s Cycl. Anat., II. 768/2. The winter-sleep and the summer-sleep of hibernating animals.

1842.  Dickens, Amer. Notes, xv. [The emigrants] had had a long winter-passage out.

  (e)  with agent-nouns or other descriptive designations.

1654.  G. Goddard, in T. Burton’s Diary (1828), I. Introd. p. lxxviii. Some part of the sea-forces were already struck off, and the winter-guard reduced.

1709.  T. Robinson, Vind. Mosaick Syst., 89. Those [creatures] that are Winter-Sleepers, when the Summer warmth abates,… draw to … Winter-Quarters.

1783.  Crabbe, Village, I. 201. When he tends the sheep, His winter-charge.

1854.  Poultry Chron., I. 363. The Cochins … proved themselves the best possible ‘winter-layers.’

  b.  The possessive winter’s is similarly used, chiefly with day, night, morning, evening. Winter’s tale: see winter-tale in 5.

835.  Charter, in O. E. Texts, 449. Ʒif hi wintres deʓ sie.

1390.  Gower, Conf., II. 327. Sche … halt hir clos the wyntres day.

c. 1430.  Lydg., Min. Poems (Percy Soc.), 212. The coold wynterys nyght.

1577.  Harrison, England, I. xiii. 37 b/2, in Holinshed. Blewe claye … (which hardlye drinketh vppe the winters water in long season).

a. 1593.  Marlowe & Nashe, Dido, III. iii. Who would not vndergoe all kind of toyle, To be well stor’d with such a winter’s tale?

1593.  Shaks., 3 Hen. VI., V. v. 25. Let Æsop fable in a Winters Night. Ibid. (1600), A. Y. L., II. i. 7. The… churlish chiding of the winters winde. Ibid. (1605), Macb., III. iv. 65. O, these flawes and starts … would well become A womans story, at a Winters fire.

1654.  R. Whitlock, Ζωοτομια, 300. A pretty upshot of all ambitious Designes … to be made at length a Winters Tale, and Chimney-corner Discourse.

1795.  Cowper, Pairing Time Anticipated, 9. It chanced then on a winter’s day, But warm, and bright, and calm as May.

1796.  Grose, Dict. Vulgar T. (ed. 3), s.v., He is like a winter’s day, short and dirty.

  c.  Applied to autumn-sown crops that stand through the winter; also to fruits that ripen late, or keep well until or during winter; spec. in names of late-ripening apples, pears, etc. (See also 5 b.)

1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVII. cxv. (Add. MS. 27944). Barliche hatte Ordeum … Þis corn we clepith wynter bere.

1398.  Winter seede [see SUMMER sb.¹ 4 c].

1530.  Palsgr., 289/2. Wynter frute, fruit de yuer.

1573–80.  Tusser, Husb. (1878), 40. Winter fruit gather when Mihel is past.

1577.  Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., I. 28. Winter Barley … is to be sowed in September.

1609.  Dekker, Ravens Almanack, B 3 b. When winter plomes are ripe and ready to be gathered.

1676.  Worlidge, Cyder, 170. Bings-pear, Winter-Poppering, Thorn-pear [etc.] are all very good Winter-pears.

1697.  Dryden, Virg. Georg., I. 300. When Astrea’s Ballance, hung on high, Betwixt the Nights and Days divides the Sky, Then … sow your Winter Grain.

1707.  Mortimer, Husb., Kalendar, Jan. Apples…. Winter Queenings,… Winter Pearmain…. Pears. Winter Musk,… Winter Norwich,… Winter Burgamot, Winter Bon-Chrestien.

1762.  Mills, Syst. Pract. Husb., I. 466. The gray and other large winter peas.

1844.  H. Stephens, Bk. Farm, II. 514. The state of the winter-wheat depends entirely on the sort of weather it had to encounter in winter and early spring.

1870.  Yeats, Nat. Hist. Comm., 63. In Egypt, wheat is a winter crop.

  d.  In figurative applications (cf. 1 c); † in quots. 1593, 1682 = old, aged.

1593.  Shaks., 2 Hen. VI., V. iii. 2. Salisbury,… That Winter Lyon, who in rage forgets Aged contusions.

1651.  N. Bacon, Disc. Govt. Eng., II. i. 6. The worst of his fate was, to live to his Winter age.

1682.  Otway, Venice Preserved, III. ii. 34. That mortify’d old wither’d Winter Rogue.

1709.  Pope, Jan. & May, 104. The tasteless, dry embrace Of a stale virgin with a winter face.

1745.  Young, Nt. Th., IX. 410. The Crown of Manhood is a Winter-Joy; An Evergreen, that … blossoms in the Rigour of our Fate.

  4.  Comb.: objective, as winter-boding, -loving adjs.; indirect objective, as winter-like, -proof, -verging adjs.; instrumental, as winter-beaten, -blasted, -bound, -chilled, -shaken, -starved, -swollen, -thin, -wasted, -withered, -worn pa. pples. and adjs.; similative, as winter-chill, -seeming, -visaged adjs.; ‘in or during winter,’ as winter-blooming, -fattened, -felled, -flowering, -made, -pruned, -sown, -standing pples, and adjs.; winter-cut vb.

1579.  Spenser, Sheph. Cal., Jan. Argt., He compareth his carefull case to the sadde season of the yeare,… and to his owne *winterbeaten flocke.

1827.  Clare, Sheph. Cal., 23. Crab, hip and *winter-bitten sloe.

1597.  Drayton, Heroic. Ep., Rosamond, 40. The cold badge of *winter-blasted haires.

1632.  Lithgow, Trav., II. 71. A roofe to my Winter-blasted lodging.

a. 1847.  Eliza Cook, Song of Dying Old Man, vi. The spring-flower clinging round the *winter-blighted tree.

1855.  Poultry Chron., III. 303. Cyclamen (especially the *winter-blooming kind) may be sheltered.

1893.  W. Watson, Poems, Autumn, 36. And spectral seem thy *winter-boding trees.

1791.  Burns, Lovely Davies, ii. As the wretch looks o’er Siberia’s shore, When *winter-bound the wave is.

1904.  E. Phillips Oppenheim, Betrayal, xxi. 179. A country silent and winterbound.

1605.  Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. iii. IV. Captains, 482. My flesh (too-*Winter-chill) My spirit’s small sparkles doth extinguish still.

1669.  Worlidge, Syst. Agric., vi. 72. In the Spring yielding a reviving Cordial to your *Winter-chilled spirit.

1784.  G. White, Selborne, To Pennant, ix. A very large fall of timber, consisting of about one thousand oaks, has been cut…. These trees … were *winter-cut, viz. in February and March.

1840.  Buel, Farmer’s Comp., 164. English beef and mutton … is mostly *winter-fattened … upon roots and straw.

1804.  Phil. Trans., XCV. 89. This superiority in *winter-felled wood.

1872.  Routledge’s Ev. Boy’s Ann., 101/2. *Winter-flowering plants.

1611.  Speed, Theat. Gt. Brit., xli. 79. *Winter-like dispositions of weather.

1740.  T. Smith, Jrnl. (1849), 268. I believe no man ever knew so winter-like a spell so early in the year.

1800.  Hurdis, Fav. Village, 134. The *winter-loving moss.

1830.  Cumbld. Farm Rep., 58. in Libr. Usef. Knowl., Husb., III. The manure made in summer … is always of better quality than *winter-made dung.

1830.  Doyle, in W. J. Fitz-Patrick, Life (1880), II. 221. I … hope I am now *winter-proof.

1842.  Loudon, Suburban Hort., 459. Canes *winter-pruned, or cut back.

a. 1631.  Donne, Loves Alchymie, 12. A *winter-seeming summers night.

1605.  Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. iii. I. Vocation, 483. Peasants *Winter-shaken.

1605.  R. R., Commend. Poem, in Sylvester’s Wks. Winter-shaken Leaues.

1707.  Mortimer, Husb., 316. *Winter sown Seed.

1598.  Grenewey, Tacitus, Ann., II. vi. (1622), 40. The souldiers were brought backe to their *winter-standing camps.

1581.  Sidney, Apel. Poetrie (Arb.), 68. Figures and flowers, extreamelie *winter-starued.

1597.  Drayton, Heroic. Ep., Henry to Rosamond, 101. The hungry winter-starued earth.

1603.  H. Crosse, Vertues Commw. (1878), 92. A number of poore winterstarued people.

1849.  Rock, Ch. Fathers, II. 465. Did the good man … wade through the *winter-swollen brook?

1820.  Keats, Fancy, 57. The snake all *winter-thin Cast on sunny bank its skin.

1824.  Fenby, To a Redbreast, v. in Wild Roses, 18.

1898.  Meredith, Odes Fr. Hist., 87. The maimed, Torn, tortured, *winter-visaged.

1885.  H. Tennyson, in Macm. Mag., March, 345.

1906.  Hardy, Dynasts, II. I. vi. *Winter-whitened bones.

1592.  Daniel, Delia, xxx[viii]. Her glas … then presents her *winter-withered hew.

1872.  Geo. Eliot, Middlem., xxxvii. The common jealousy of a *winter-worn husband.

a. 1560.  Phaër, Æneid, VIII. (1562), B b iij. Three *winter-wrested showres.

  5.  Special Combs.: winter bud Zool., a statoblast (formed at the approach of, or quiescent during, winter); winter-clad a., clothed warmly for the winter; † winter-close v., trans. to shut close against the cold of winter; winter count, a pictorial record or chronicle of the events of a year, kept by a N. American Indian tribe; winter eggs = winter ova; winter garden, (a) a garden of plants that flourish in winter, as evergreens; (b) a greenhouse or conservatory in which plants are kept flourishing in winter; winter-hained a. [HAIN v.¹], of pasture, preserved from grazing during the winter; so winter-haining vbl. sb.; winter-killed pa. pple. and a. (U.S.), killed or blasted by the cold of winter: said esp. of grain or other crops; so winter-killing; winter-long a., as (tediously) long as winter; adv., through a whole winter; winter-love, cold or conventional love; winter-old a., that has lasted since the beginning of winter; winter ova, eggs produced by certain invertebrates at the approach of winter (cf. summer ova s.v. SUMMER sb.¹ 6); winter-piece [PIECE sb. 17 b, d], a picture or description of a winter scene; winter-pride, the condition of being winter-proud; winter-proud a., (of wheat or other crops) too luxuriant in winter; winter-rig v. (now dial.), trans. to plow (land) in ridges and lay it fallow for the winter (cf. WINTER-FALLOW); winter-rot [ROT sb.¹ 2], a disease incident to sheep in the winter; † winter-stall, a hive in which bees are kept during the winter; † winter story, tale, an idle tale (also winter’s tale: see 3 b).

1888.  Rolleston & Jackson, Anim. Life, 709. The Phylactolaemata [among Polyzoa] also reproduce by statoblasts or *winter buds.

1847.  Tennyson, Princess, II. 105. The man; Tattoo’d or woaded, *winter-clad in skins.

c. 1440.  Pallad. on Husb., I. 507. *Winter close hit al To holde out colde.

1895.  Hoffman, Begin. Writing, 35. These chronological records are designated *‘winter counts,’ as each event covers that period of time between the end of one summer and the beginning of the next.

1872.  H. C. Bastian, Begin. Life, II. 514. The so-called *‘winter-eggs’ of the beautiful and highly complex Rotifer known by the name of Hydatina senta.

1712.  Addison, Spect., No. 477, ¶ 1. A *Winter Garden, which would consist of such Trees only as never cast their Leaves.

1762.  Kames, Elem. Crit., xxiv. (1774), 448. In a cold country, the capital object should be a winter-garden, open to the sun, sheltered from wind, dry under foot, and having the appearance of summer by variety of evergreens.

1889.  Gunter, That Frenchman! xvi. 197. The great conservatory, or winter garden, as it is called in that country, and without which no grand Russian house is complete.

1896.  Ward & Lock’s Illustr. Guide Bournemouth, etc., 22. Not far from the pier entrance is the Winter Garden and Pavilion.

1886.  C. Scott, Sheep-farming, 86. To have in reserve a *winter-hained old pasture, which the ewes and lambs can fall back on.

1667–8.  Act 19 & 20 Chas. II., c. 8 § 10. The time of the *Winter heyning (that is to say) from the Eleventh day of November to the Three and twentieth day of Aprill.

1743.  R. Maxwell, Sel. Trans. Agric. Scot., 37. The Dung of these [sheep] in Summer, with Winter-haining, will keep the Ground in good Heart.

1868.  Rep. U.S. Comm. Agric. (1869), 405. The White Mediterranean and Sandomirka wheats were badly *winter-killed. Ibid., 17. The early reports … were generally favorable, and noted by the absence of *winter-killing.

c. 1325.  Lai le Freine, 143. Al the *winter-long night.

1876.  Morris, Æneids, IV. 193. How winter-long between them there the sweets of sloth they nursed.

1636.  B. Jonson, Discov., Jactura vitæ. What a deale of cold busines doth a man mis-spend the better part of life in! in scattering complements, tendring visits,… making a little *winter-love in a darke corner.

1897.  trans. Nansen’s Farthest North, II. v. 194. Ice which can hardly be *winter-old, or at any rate has been formed since last summer.

1852.  Zoologist, X. 3406. He pointed out the difference between the ordinary ova and those called *‘winter ova,’ which last he proposed to call ephippial ova.

1877.  [see summer ova s.v. SUMMER sb.¹ 6].

1888.  Rolleston & Jackson, Anim. Life, 634. The ova [of Rotifers] are of three kinds, small male ova, thin-shelled summer ova, and thick-shelled winter or, better, resting ova.

1666.  Pepys, Diary, 17 July. To agree with … (the Dutch paynter …) for a *winter piece of snow.

1697.  Addison, Ess. Virgil’s Georgics, ¶ 12. The Scythian Winter-piece appears so very cold and bleak to the Eye, that a Man can scarce look on it without shivering.

1797.  Holcroft, trans. Stolberg’s Trav. (ed. 2), II. xlii. 70. The third [painting] is a winter piece.

a. 1722.  Lisle, Husb. (1757), 93. Sow old wheat at the first and earliest sowing, if you fear *winter-pride.

1601.  Holland, Pliny, XVII. ii. I. 501. When either corne is *winter-prowd, or other plants put forth and bud too earely, by reason of the mild and warme aire.

1799.  J. Robertson, Agric. Perth, 146. When the wheat is winter-proud, which commonly happens after a mild season…, that luxuriance … ought to be checked by eating it down with sheep.

1846.  J. Baxter, Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4), II. 397. There is danger of the crop running to straw, or becoming what is called winter-proud.

1661.  M. Stevenson, Twelve Moneths, 39. At the end of this moneth [August] begin to *winter-rig all fruitful soyls.

1577.  Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., III. 140. Against the *winter rotte, or hunger rotte, you must prouide to feede them [sc. sheep] at home in Cratches.

c. 1275.  xi Pains of Hell, 40, in O. E. Misc., 148. Þickure hi hongeþ … Þan don been in *wynterstal.

1587–8.  Wills & Inv. Durh. (Surtees), II. 312. iij wynter stales of bees.

1824.  [see STALL sb.⁴].

1659.  Bp. Walton, Consid. Considered, 239. A mere *winter-story without any ground or reason.

1556.  Olde, Antichrist, 7. According to olde wiues fables and *winter tales.

1637.  C. Dow, Answ. to H. Burton, 120 b. Such winter tales as it were too great a mispence of time and words to refute them.

  b.  In names of animals and plants that are active or flourish in winter or in the winter half of the year (often rendering L. hiemalis as a specific name), or of late-ripening fruits (cf. 3 c): winter-bloom, (a) a late-flowering species of Azalea; (b) the American witch-hazel, Hamamelis virginica, which blossoms late in autumn and ripens its fruit the following year; winter bunting, the snow bunting (see BUNTING sb.¹ 1); winter clover, the partridge-berry, Mitchella repens; winter daffodil, a late-blooming yellow-flowered amaryllid, Sternbergia lutea, cultivated in gardens; winter duck, (a) the pintail duck (see PINTAIL 2); (b) in U.S., the long-tailed duck, Harelda glacialis; winter falcon, the young of the red-shouldered buzzard, Buteo lineatus; winter finch, a N. American species of finch (see quot.); winter flounder (see quot.); winter-flower, (a) gen. a flower blooming in winter; (b) spec. the early-blooming Japan allspice, Chimonanthus fragrans [a rendering of the generic name]; † winter gillyflower, the wallflower (see quot. 1597); winter grape, an American species of grape-vine, Vitis cordifolia; winter-gull, any species of gull that appears in winter in a particular locality, as the common gull, the black-headed gull or the herring-gull; winter hawk, the red-shouldered buzzard (cf. winter falcon); winter heath (see quot.); winter-mew = winter-gull; winter midge (see quot.); winter-moth, any of various geometer moths that come forth in winter, esp. Cheimatobia brumata; winter-pick [? PICK v.¹ 5], a local name for the sloe when mellowed by frost, used for making a rustic wine; winter queening, a late-ripening variety of apple, which keeps well through the winter; winter redbird local, the cardinal grosbeak, Cardinalis virginianus, which winters in some parts of N. America (cf. summer redbird s.v. SUMMER sb.¹ 6 b); winter rocket, the common winter-cress, Barbarea vulgaris (see ROCKET sb.² 3); winter rose, (a) a rose blooming in winter; (b) ? the Christmas rose, Helleborus niger; winter-shad, the mud-shad, Dorosoma copedianum; winter snipe, the purple sandpiper or rock-snipe, Tringa striata or maritima (cf. summer snipe s.v. SUMMER sb.¹ 6 b); winter squash, a species of pumpkin, Cucurbita maxima (cf. summer squash s.v. SUMMER sb.¹ 6 b); winter strawberry, the strawberry-tree = ARBUTUS; winter-sweet = Winter Sweet Marjoram (see MARJORAM); winter teal, the green-winged teal (see TEAL 2): cf. summer teal s.v. SUMMER sb.¹ 6 b; winter-thorn, a late-ripening variety of pear; winter-weed, any one of various small weeds that survive and flourish in winter; esp. the ivy-leaved and field speedwells, Veronica hederæfolia and V. agrestis. See also winter ACONITE, HELIOTROPE, HELLEBORE, HEMP, MARJORAM, RAPE (sb.⁵), SAVORY, WAGTAIL, WREN.

1760.  J. Lee, Introd. Bot., App. 332. *Winter Bloom. Azalea.

1884.  Miller, Plant-n., Hamamelis virginica, American Witch-Hazel,… Winter-bloom.

1815.  Stephens, in Shaw’s Gen. Zool., IX. 367. *Winter Bunting (Emberiza hyemalis).

1884.  Miller, Plant-n., Mitchella repens, Chequer-berry, Partridge-berry,… *Winter Clover. Ibid., Sternbergia lutea, *Winter Daffodil.

1804.  Bewick, Brit. Birds, II. 360. Pintail Duck. Sea Pheasant, Cracker, or *Winter Duck.

1785.  Pennant, Arctic Zool., II. 209. *Winter Falcon…. With a black bill; yellow cere:… appears at approach of winter, and retires in the spring.

1783.  Latham, Gen. Syn. Birds, III. 274. *Winter Finch…. Found at New York, in the winter.

1809.  Edmondston, Zetland Isl., I. 240. Ling … are known by the name of *winter fish.

1873.  T. Gill, Catal. Fishes E. Coast N. Amer., 16. Pseudopleuronectes americanus.… Common flounder; *winter-flounder; mud dab.

1733.  Pope, Lett. to Richardson, 10 June. I hope to see you … before this *Winter-flower is faded. I will deler her Interment till Tomorrow Night.

1597.  Gerarde, Herbal, II. cxiii. 371. The people in Cheshire do call them *Winter Gilloflowers.

1615.  W. Lawson, Orch. & Gard., vi. (1623), 12. Wall-flowers, commonly called Bee-flowers, or winter Gilly-flowers.

1814.  Pursh, Flora Amer. Septentr., I. 169. Vitis cordifolia … commonly called *Winter-grape or Chicken-grape.

1804.  Bewick, Brit. Birds, II. 221. *Winter Gull. Winter Mew, or Coddy Moddy.

1831.  Audubon, Ornith. Biog., I. 364. The *Winter Hawk. Falco hyemalis, Gmel.

1882.  Garden, 14 Jan., 17/1. The Winter Heath (E[rica] carnea) as a low-growing or carpet shrub is one of the best of all winter blooming plants.

1678.  Ray, Willughby’s Ornith., 350. The *Winter-Mew, called in Cambridge-shire the Coddy-Moddy.

1854.  J. Hogg, Microsc., II. ii. 288. The appearance of gnats. The first that appear are called *winter midges (Trichocera hyemalis).

1819.  Samouelle, Entomol. Compend., 359. Smerinthus brumaria. The *Winter Moth.

1869.  E. Newman, Brit. Moths, 106. The Winter Moth (Chimatobia brumata).

1862.  W. S. Coleman, Woodlands, 118. *‘Winterpick-wine’ takes the place of port in the rustic ‘cellar.’

1664.  Evelyn, Kal. Hort., Jan. (1669), 21. Apples … Holland-pepin, John-apple, *Winter-Queening.

1754.  J. Lawson, Carolina, 108. Winter Queening is a durable Apple, and makes good Cider.

1889.  Science-Gossip, XXV. 146/1. Our lively cardinal grosbeak … is known as the *‘winter red bird,’ because … more of a songster in December than in June.

1742.  Young, Nt. Th., II. 240. The *winter Rose must blow, the Sun put on A brighter Beam in Leo.

1891.  Kipling, Life’s Handicap, iv. 88. Clumps of winter-roses lay between the silver candlesticks.

1888.  Goode, Amer. Fishes, 409. In the Chesapeake region it is known as the ‘Mud-Shad,’ *‘Winter-Shad,’ or ‘Stink Shad.’

1809.  Kendall, Trav., III. lxx. 109. The vine of a species of pompion called by the colonists *winter squash.

a. 1746.  Holdsworth, Rem. Virgil (1768), 29. The Arbutus cannot here mean the *Winter-Strawberry.

1840.  Paxton, Bot. Dict., *Winter sweet, Origanum heracleoticum.

1766.  Compl. Farmer, s.v. Pear 5 Y 4/2. The *winter-thorn.