Snow sb.¹

Forms: α. (Latterly north. and Sc.) 1– snaw, 4–6, 8–9 snawe; 1 snauw, 1–4, 6 snau, 5 snaue; 1, 9 sna, 9 snaa. β. 3– snow (3 snou, snov), 3–7 snowe (5 sknowe), 9 dial. sno, snoo. γ. 3–4 snouh, 3 snovȝ, 4 snowh, snowȝ, snoȝ. [Common Teutonic: OE. snáw, = OFris. *snê (WFris. snie, EFris. snē, snö, NFris. sne, sni, snīe), MDu. sneeu, sneu, snee (Du. sneeuw, dial. snee), OS. snêu, snêw- (MLG. and LG. snee), OHG. snêo, snêw- (MHG. snê, G. schnee), ON. snǽr, snjár, snjór (Icel. snjór, Norw. snjo, snjø, snø, etc.; MSw. snyo, snyö, etc., Sw. snö; MDa. snø, sne, Da. sne), Goth. snaiws:—OTeut. *snaiwaz. Various grades of the pre-Teut. stem are widely represented in the cognate languages, as Lith. snëgas, OSlav. snegŭ (Russ. snieg’), OIr. snechta (Ir. sneachd), L. niv-is (nix), Gr. νίφα (acc.) snow, νίφει it snows, etc.]

  I.  1. The partially frozen vapor of the atmosphere falling in flakes characterized by their whiteness and lightness; the fall of these flakes, or the layer formed by them on the surface of the ground.

  α.  c. 825.  Vesp. Psalter cxlvii. 16. Se seleð snaw swe swe wulle.

a. 1000.  Boeth. Metr., xxix. 63. Swylce haʓal & snaw hrusan leccað On wintres tid.

c. 1050.  O. E. Chron. (MS. C), an. 1046. On þis ylcan ʓeare … com se stranga winter mid forste & mid snawe.

c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 35. Ic walde fein pinian and sitten on forste and on snawe up et mine chinne.

c. 1205.  Lay., 27459. Flan al swa þicke swa þe snau adun ualleð.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 22692. A stormi dai … Bath o frost, and hail, and snau.

1375.  Barbour, Bruce, IX. 128. This wes eftir the Martymes, Quhen snaw had helit all the land.

1432–50.  trans. Higden (Rolls), I. 265. Peple … whiche haue plente of snawe in the tyme of somer.

1549.  Compl. Scot., vi. 59. The snau is ane congelit rane.

1596.  Dalrymple, trans. Leslie’s Hist. Scot., I. 31. How deip saeuir be the snawe,… thay nevir thair heid sett vndir the ruffe of ony hous.

1781.  Burns, Winter, i. The stormy North sends driving forth The blinding sleet and snaw.

1863.  R. Quinn, Heather Lintie (ed. 2), 196. I … saw Puir Robin ’midst the driftin snaw.

  β.  c. 1200.  Trin. Coll. Hom., 99. Þis is þe holi manne [= manna] þe ure drihten sende alse snow sleðrende.

c. 1250.  Owl & Night., 413. Þu singest so doþ hen a snowe.

13[?].  Fall & Passion, 13, in E. E. P. Seue daies a seue niȝt as ȝe seeþ þat falliþ snowe.

1377.  Langl., P. Pl., B. XV. 110. A dongehul, Þat were bysnewed with snowe.

c. 1400.  Destr. Troy, 10971. Of cleane white, As the glyssenond glemes þat glenttes on þe sknowe.

c. 1425.  Cast. Persev., 2642, in Macro Plays, 156. It [riches] flyet a-wey, as any snow.

1526.  Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 140. Let vs stande there in y^e rayne or snowe, all thus storuen for colde.

1562.  J. Heywood, Prov. & Epigr. (1867), 51. Snow is white And lyeth in the dike.

1617.  Moryson, Itin., I. 179. I could hardly keepe him … from being drowned in the snow.

1672.  Petty, Pol. Anat. (1691), 50. The Snow lies not long in the lower ground of Ireland.

1774.  Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1776), I. 372. Some vapours that ascend to great heights, will be frozen into snow.

1813.  Sir H. Davy, Agric. Chem. (1814), 209. Snow and ice are bad conductors of heat.

1860.  Tyndall, Glac., I. ii. 19. A vast quantity of snow fell during the night.

1878.  Huxley, Physiogr., 154–5. Snow is white and opaque in consequence of the air entangled among its crystals.

  γ.  c. 1250.  Owl & Night., 430. Hwanne snouh liþ þikke & wide.

c. 1290.  S. Eng. Leg., I. 209. Þat … caldore was þane ani ys oþur snovȝ.

c. 1320.  Cast. Love, 722. Þe snowȝ [v.r. snowh] þat is sneuwynge.

1382.  Wyclif, Prov. xxvi. 1. What maner snoȝ in somer, and reyn in rep time [etc.].

  b.  Taken as a type of whiteness or brightness.

  See also DRIVEN ppl. a. 2.

c. 825.  Vesp. Psalter i. 9. Ofer snaw ic biom ʓehwitad.

c. 950.  Lindisf. Gosp., Matt. xvii. 2. Wedo his ʓeworden weron huita sua sna [Rushw. snau].

971.  Blickling Hom., 147. Heo hæfde seofon siþum beorhtran saule þonne snaw.

a. 1200.  Vices & Virtues, 83. Ðanne wurð ic … hwittere ðane ani snaw.

1297.  R. Glouc. (Rolls), 9514. Wite cloþes heo dude hire on, as wo seiþ, ilich þe snowe.

a. 1366[?].  Chaucer, Rom. Rose, 558. Hir throte, al-so whyt of hewe, As snow on braunche snowed newe.

1423.  James I., Kingis Q., lxvii. Hir faire fresche face, as quhite as ony snawe.

a. 1533.  Ld. Berners, Huon, lxx. 239. He chaunged coloure and waxed as whyte as snowe.

1593.  G. Fletcher, Licia, etc. (Grosart), 106. So is my sweet, much paler than the snowe.

1634.  Sir T. Herbert, Trav., 25. The Ocean was as white as snow.

1730–46.  Thomson, Autumn, 916. How, white as hyperborean snow To form the lucid lawn.

1817.  Shelley, Rev. Islam, I. liv. Some, whose white hair shone Like mountain snow.

  c.  In various fig. or allusive uses.

a. 1548.  Hall, Chron., Edw. IV., 43. Why you … so sore laboured and entyced me to passe ouer the Sea, promysynge mountaines of Golde, whiche turned into snowe.

1591.  Shaks., Two Gent., II. vii. 19. Thou wouldst as soone goe kindle fire with snow. Ibid. (1594), Rich. III., I. iv. 249. Cla. O do not slander him, for he is kinde. [First Murderer.] Right, as Snow in Haruest.

1668.  Dryden, Dram. Poesy, Ess. (ed. Ker), I. 43. He was not only a professed imitator of Horace, but a learned plagiary of all the others; you track him every where in their snow.

1738.  Wesley’s Hymns, ‘Come holy Spirit, send down those Beams,’ iii. Warm with thy Fire our Hearts of Snow.

1854.  Miss Baker, Northampt. Gloss., s.v., He looks as cold as snow in harvest.

1860.  Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxf., xxxiii. When one has been a year at Oxford, there isn’t much snow left to soil.

1862.  Pusey, in Liddon, Life (1897), IV. 241. Here … we seem to be so familiar with our evils as to acquiesce in them, sleeping in the snow, which is death.

  d.  With adjs. of color, denoting snow tinged by various foreign substances, or the alga, etc., to which the coloring is due.

1678–.  [see RED SNOW 1].

1842.  Penny Cycl., XXII. 168/1. A field of green snow. Ibid. Martius arrived at the conclusion … that the green snow (Protococcus viridis) and the red (P. nivalis) are one and the same plant.

1898.  Westm. Gaz., 31 March, 7/2. Black snow in the Lake district…. On Tuesday,… it is stated, there was a sharp fall of perfectly black snow.

1909.  Cent. Dict., Suppl. s.v., Golden snow.

  2.  A fall of snow; a snowstorm. Now rare.

  Not always clearly distinguishable from sense 3.

c. 888.  K. Ælfred, Boeth., xxiii. Norðanwindas & micle renas & snawas.

1408.  trans. Vegetius’ De Re Milit. (MS. Digby 233), 186/2. Sodeyn snowes … rysyng & encrees of ryuers & flodus.

1489–90.  Plumpton Corr. (Camden), 90. At my departing I rode … a full troubleous way in that great snaw.

1562.  Child Marr., 112. Apon a saturday afore that tyme, beynge a gret snowe.

1588.  Shaks., L. L. L., I. i. 106. At Christmas I no more desire a Rose, Then wish a Snow in Mayes new fangled showes.

1694.  S. Sewall, Diary, 16 March. A great Snow falls. Ibid. (1717), 20 Feb. Another Snow coming on.

1740.  T. Smith, Jrnl. (1849), 268. We had only two snows and sledding but about three weeks.

1803.  Mary Charlton, Wife & Mistress, II. 92. Her good man … walked through a very thick snow, to inform her [etc.].

1817.  Shelley, Rev. Islam, IX. xxi. Next come the snows, and rain, And frosts, and storms.

  transf.  1728.  Pope, Dunc., III. 262. How calm he sits at ease, ’Mid snows of paper and fierce hail of pease.

1855.  Kingsley, Westw. Ho! xix. Great white tassels … tossed in their faces a fragrant snow of blossoms.

1866.  B. Taylor, Poems, Poet’s Jrnl., 31. The bosom of the lawn Whitened beneath her silent snow of light.

  b.  As marking a period of time; a winter.

1825.  Longf., Burial of Minnisink, iv. Thirty snows had not yet shed Their glory on the warrior’s head.

1841.  Catlin, N. Amer. Ind. (1844), I. xx. 147. The notches he had recorded for the snows (or years) of his life.

1850.  Tennyson, In Mem., xxii. 4. Thro’ four sweet years…, from snow to snow.

  3.  An accumulation, mass, expanse, or field, of snow.

c. 1374.  Chaucer, Troylus, V. 10. The golden-tressed Phebus … Thryes hadde alle with his bemes shene The snowes molte.

1596.  Dalrymple, trans. Leslie’s Hist. Scot., I. 5. [There are] mony weitis, deip snawis.

1660.  F. Brooke, trans. Le Blanc’s Trav., 347. There is a large river…, which some Spanish were about to crosse, but could not for snows.

1693.  Dryden, etc. Juvenal, vi. (1697), 127. When Winter shuts the Seas, and fleecy Snows Make Houses white.

1705.  Addison, Italy, 125. This River … was much increas’d by the melting of the Snows when Cæsar pass’d it.

1748.  Gray, Alliance, 77. O’er Libya’s deserts and through Zembla’s snows.

1820.  Scott, Monast., xxxi. The snows of that Mont Blanc which we saw together.

1854.  Hooker, Himal. Jrnls., II. xxix. 294. The most conspicuous group of snows seen from Khasia.

1878.  Browning, La Saisiaz, 24. Yonder, where the far snows blanch Mute Mont Blanc.

  b.  pl. The regions of perpetual snow; the Arctic regions.

1844.  Emerson, Young American, Wks. (Bohn), II. 296. To men legislating for the area betwixt … the snows and the tropics.

  II.  4. Applied to various things or substances having the color or appearance of snow:

  a.  Cookery. A dish or confection resembling snow in appearance, esp. one made by whipping the white of eggs to a creamy consistency.

1597.  Bk. Cookerie, F b. How to make Snowe. Take a quart of thicke cream, and fiue or sixe whites of eggs [etc.].

1864.  Englishw. in India, 173. Whip the whites of six eggs to a hard snow.

a. 1887.  Cassell’s Dict. Cookery, 375. Lemon snow. Ibid., 887. Recipes for the following snows will be found under their respective headings. Ibid. Apple snow may be iced.

  b.  Chem. One or other of various substances having a snow-like appearance (see quots.).

1802.  Encycl. Brit., Suppl. I. 240. A white powder, formerly called snow or white flowers of antimony. This is the white oxyd of antimony.

1815.  J. Smith, Panorama Sci. & Art, II. 401. Argentine snow, or flowers of antimony.

1841.  Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl., IV. 317/1. A small piece of this carbonic acid snow was placed on the surface of water.

  c.  poet. White marble.

1848.  Bailey, Festus, Proëm (ed. 3), p. vii. Ere new marmoreal floods had spread their couch Of perdurable snow.

  5.  a. The white hair of age. Chiefly in phrases. Also pl.

1638.  R. Baker, trans. Balzac’s Lett. (vol. III.), 57. If my passions be cooled by the snow of my head, I have then never a white hair [etc.].

1743.  Francis, trans. Horace, Odes, V. xvii. 30. II. 345.

1757.  Duncombe, trans. Horace, Odes, II. xi. 9. Age drops her Snow upon our Heads.

1852.  Thackeray, Esmond, I. ii. Attiring herself like summer though her head was covered with snow.

1871.  R. Ellis, Catullus, lxiv. 309. Wreaths sat on each hoar crown, whose snows flush’d rosy beneath them.

  b.  slang. (See quots.)

1811.  Lexicon-Balatronicum, Snow, linen hung out to dry or bleach.

1812.  J. H. Vaux, Flash Dict., Snow, clean linen from the washerwoman’s hands, whether it be wet or dry.

1859.  Slang Dict., 97. Snow, wet linen.

  c.  White bloom or blossom; spray or foam.

1859.  Geo. Eliot, A. Bede, I. I. i. 2. The elder-bushes which were spreading their summer snow close to the open window.

1885.  J. H. Dell, Dawning Grey, Songs of the Surges, 97. I stood looking forth o’er the surges,—Looking forth o’er their squadrons of snow.

1900.  Westm. Gaz., 14 April, 2/3. With the May rain still on their petalled snow.

  d.  In some popular names of plants, as snow-in-harvest, -in-summer, -on-the-mountain (see quots.).

1878–80.  T. Meehan, Native Wild Flowers U. S., Ser. II. I. 79. This Euphorbia marginata … is called by the people here ‘Snow on the Mountain.’

1881.  Leicester Gloss., 247. Snow-in-harvest,… a flower, Cerastium tomentosum.

1886.  Britten & Holland, Plant-Names, 440. Snow-in-harvest…. (2) Clematis Vitalba.… (3) Alyssum maritimum. Ibid., Snow-on-the-mountain. (1) Arabis alpina … (also Snow-in-summer)…. (2) Cerastium tomentosum.

  6.  The pure white color of snow; snow-white. Chiefly poet.

a. 1745.  Broome, in Fawke’s Anacreon, Ode, liii. 33 (1760), 126. The Graces more enchanting show, When rosy Blushes paint their Snow.

1760.  Macpherson, Fragm. Anc. Poetry, xiv. 65. The youth with the breast of snow!

1827.  Scott, Highl. Widow, v. The daughters of the land were beautiful, with blue eyes and fair hair, and bosoms of snow.

1843.  Bethune, Scott. Peasant’s Fire-side, 163. Her eye sae bright and womanly—Her breast o’ mountain snaw.

  b.  pl. White breasts.

1803.  Visct. Strangford, Poems of Camoens (1810), 41. Starlight eyes, and heaving snows.

  III.  7. attrib. a. In the sense of ‘consisting or composed of snow; covered, filled or mixed with snow; derived from, due to, made in, snow,’ etc.; as snow-bank, -bed, -berg, -blast, etc.

  Many combs. of this type occur in works specially dealing with Alpine or Arctic regions, as Kane Arctic Explor. (1856), Tyndall Glaciers (1860), etc.

1803.  Visct. Strangford, Poems of Camoens (1810), 106. Like *snow-banks scatter’d with the blooms of May.

1845–50.  Mrs. Lincoln, Lect. Bot., xxiv. 139. The Crocus,… not unfrequently blossoming in the neighbourhood of a snow-bank.

1857.  M. Arnold, Rugby Chapel, 100. The unseen *snow-beds dislodge Their hanging rain.

1884.  Good Words, Jan., 43/1. We now hastened … across the old snow-beds.

1840.  R. Bremner, Excurs. Denmark, etc. I. 219. Its towers turned into *snow-bergs.

1773.  Cook’s Voy., I. iv. 47. The cold was now become more severe, and the *snow-blasts more frequent.

1889.  Gretton, Memory’s Harkback, 210. A snow-blast fell upon them, to Devonians almost an unknown thing.

1871.  Proctor, Light Sci., 110. Observing the earth’s polar *snow-caps must lead to several important conclusions.

1899.  Crockett, Kit Kennedy, 318. A light haze of *snow-cloud obscured the lesser stars.

1871.  E. Whymper, Scrambles amongst Alps, xii. 259, note. These *snow-cornices are common on the crests of high mountain ridges.

1820.  Shelley, Liberty, xiii. The cold *Snow-crags by its reply are cloven in sunder.

1866.  Chambers’s Encycl., VIII. 789/1. The different prismatic rays issuing from the minute *snow-crystals.

1856.  Kane, Arctic Explor., I. xxi. 267. The fine impacted *snow-dust of winter.

1797.  Coleridge, Anc. Mar., Marg. Notes 3. A great sea-bird … came through the *snow-fog.

1897.  D. W. Huntington, in Outing, XXIX. 368/2. The shadowy forms of birds … rapidly vanished in the snow-fog.

1827.  Scott, Diary, 28 May. As ideas … flag and something like a *snow haze covers my whole imagination.

1882.  Imperial Dict., *Snow-hut,… a hut built of snow.

1844.  Civ. Eng. & Arch. Jrnl., VII. 332/2. If the latter freezes, the result is *‘snow-ice,’ which is of no value.

1882.  Geikie, Text-bk. Geol., II. II. 110. Snow-ice is formed above the snow-line, but may descend in glaciers far below it.

1878.  Seeley, Stein, II. 513. Out of what planet have these people dropped into Muscovy’s frozen *snowland?

1879.  Browning, Ivan Ivanovitch, 114. Daylight, bred between Moon-light and *snow-light.

1872.  C. King, Mountain. Sierra Nev., vi. 126. Rosy peaks, with dull, silvery *snow-marblings.

1866.  Whittier, Snow-Bound, 96. The sun through dazzling *snow-mist shone.

1870.  Bryant, Iliad, XIII. II. 40. Seen from afar, like a *snow-mountain’s peak.

1882.  Garden, 7 Jan., 5/2. Alpine flowers … striving to bloom in the *snow-ooze on the Alps.

a. 1835.  Mrs. Hemans, Chamois Hunter’s Love, Poems (1875), 450. Where the *snow-peaks gleam like stars.

1837.  J. E. Murray, Summer in Pyrenees, II. 201, note. The wreath might terminate … in a *snow-plain.

1807.  J. Barlow, Columb., VI. 161. Hail, sleet and *snow-rack far behind him fly.

1854.  H. Miller, Sch. & Schm. (1858), 13. When … the driving snow-rack cleared up.

1857.  Emerson, Poems, 41. *Snow-ridges masked each darling spot.

1884.  J. Hirst Hollowell, in Congregationalist, June, 493. A *snow river crashing down the sides of the mountain.

1880.  Burbidge, Gardens of Sun, i. 9. Here and there the surface is rippled like a *snow-ruck.

1827.  Clare, Sheph. Cal., 85. Like spots of *snow-shine in dark fairy rings.

1887.  Swinburne, Poems & Ball., 3rd Ser. (1897), 3. As the sunshine quenches the snowshine.

1807.  P. Gass, Jrnl., 181. There were several *snow showers during the day.

1847.  E. Brontë, Wuthering Heights, I. ii. 15. The first feathery flakes of a snow shower.

1841.  Whittier, Funeral Tree of the Sokokis, 12. Where the … *snow-slide left its dusky streak.

1891.  E. Roper, By Track & Trail, x. 138. High precipitous mountains, timbered, but scored with snow-slides.

1774.  Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1824), I. 69. *Snow-slips, well known, and greatly dreaded by travellers.

1898.  Speaker, Oct., 410. The snow-slips are very destructive in this narrow valley.

1860.  Tyndall, Glac., I. xiv. 96. Precipitous *snow-slopes, fluted by the descent of … avalanches.

1878.  Hooker & Ball, Marocco, 263. We had kept close to one of these long and … narrow snowslopes.

1837.  Carlyle, Fr. Rev., III. III. iv. In the *snow-slush of last winter.

1860.  Tyndall, Glac., I. xiv. 96. Our way lying in part through deep snow-slush.

1888.  Nature, 2 Feb., 333. Copeland … was almost completely thwarted by *snow-squalls.

1837.  Carlyle, Fr. Rev., I. II. i. There are *Snow-statues raised by the poor in hard winter.

1856.  Kane, Arctic Explor., I. ix. 95. The *snow-streams or gullies that led to a gorge.

1819.  L. Richmond, in Grimshawe, Memoir (1828), xiii. 432. Illuminated with *snow-sunshine.

1877.  Bryant, Poems, Little People of the Snow, 106. The little maiden … climbed the rounded *snow-swells.

1765.  Goldsm., Trav., 189. The den where *snow-tracks mark the way.

1844.  Mrs. Browning, Drama of Exile, 1708. As the *snow-wind beats blindly on the moorland.

  b.  In the sense of ‘used for, or in connection with, snow,’ as snow-boot, -fence, spectacles, etc.

1773.  Barrington, in Phil. Trans., LXIII. 225. Each of the three species of Tetrao…; and it is usually said with us, that they have in winter their *snow-boots. Ibid. (1768), LX. 109, note. *Snow-eyes, which … are most excellently contrived for preserving the eyes from the effect of the snow in the spring.

1885.  G. Palmer, in Longman’s Mag., Feb., 423. These cuttings had not been protected … with *snow sheds or fences.

1902.  Nature, 4 Sept., 454. Snow-fences are commonly erected in Canada to check the rate of snow-drifting.

1884.  Knight, Dict. Mech., Suppl. 826/2. *Snow Flanges.… A bar of iron or steel attached to a car or engine to scrape away snow and ice on the sides of the heads of the rails.

1886.  Encycl. Brit., XX. 257/1. Glaisher’s rain and *snow gauge.

1887.  A. R. Wallace, in 19th Cent., Nov., 672. Mr. Murdock … found an Eskimo *snow-goggle.

1893.  Earl Dunmore, Pamirs, I. 59. The reflection … off the snow would have been positively blinding had we not been provided with snow goggles.

1844.  H. Stephens, Bk. Farm, II. 622. A *snow-harrow or a snow-plough will be found a useful implement.

1865.  Lubbock, Preh. Times, 401. In the South the men have … *snow-knives, ice-chisels [etc.].

1875.  Wood & Lapham, Waiting for Mail, 36. We found him lying beside the *snow-pole just on the hill.

1901.  W. T. Grenfell, in Blackw. Mag., Nov., 688/1. It is then only accessible with dog-sleighs and *snow-raquets.

1856.  Kane, Arctic Explor., II. i. 21. A *snow-saw.

1864.  N. & Q., 3rd Ser. VI. 454/1. The Icelanders have their *snow-shades, but a reader has no protection from paper glare.

1875.  Knight, Dict. Mech., 2231/1. *Snow-shed. A protection for a railway-track in exposed situations.

1882.  Pidgeon, Engineer’s Holiday, I. 275. The track is covered by snow-sheds.

1820.  Scoresby, Acc. Arctic Reg., II. 233. A wooden ‘mallet,’ and *‘snow-shovel.’

1854.  R. G. Latham, Native Races Russian Emp., 84. The skide (pronounced she) is a *snow-skate upwards of six feet long.

1897.  Outing, XXIX. 357/2. For this purpose nothing could be better than the snowshoe and snowskate, or ski, of to-day.

1793.  Holcroft, trans. Lavater’s Physiog., xix. 97. The effusions of light from the snow (to guard against which the Esquimaux wear *snow-spectacles).

1901.  H. Seebohm, Birds of Siberia, v. 47. The glare of the sunshine on the white snow forced us to wear snow spectacles.

1886.  Daily News, 28 Dec., 5/7. Yesterday morning the *snow-sweep, drawn by six horses, was got to work early.

1885.  G. Palmer, in Longman’s Mag., Feb., 425. About nine o’clock the ‘snow outfit’ steamed in.
  The *snow-train was made up of six vehicles.

  c.  In the sense of ‘snow-like, white as snow.’

1750.  trans. Leonardus’ Mirr. Stones, 94. It [Dionysia] has a brown or iron Colour, sprinkled over with snow Spots.

1819.  Byron, Juan, II. cxxi. Her small snow feet had slippers, but no stocking.

  d.  Cookery. (Cf. 4 a.)

1877.  Cassell’s Dict. Cookery, 887. Snow Cake…. Snow Cheese…. Snow Cocoa-nut [etc.].

1894.  Westm. Gaz., 30 May, 8/2. Recipe for Snow Eggs.

  8.  Comb. a. With pa. pples. (chiefly with instrumental force), as snow-beaten, -blown, -bound, -choked, etc., or in parasynthetic combs., as snow-bearded, -capped, -colo(u)red, -crested, etc. Also snow-rub, swathe vbs.

c. 1745.  Armstrong, Misc. (1770), I. 150.

1827.  G. Darley, Sylvia, 7. The *snow-bearded tenant of a wilderness.

1836–48.  B. D. Walsh, Aristoph., Clouds, I. iii. On the *snow-beaten peak Of Olympus.

1800.  Hurdis, Favourite Village, 118. Isles desolate and horrid, *snow-besprent.

1855.  Longf., Hiaw., II. 30. From his *snow-besprinkled tresses.

1866.  Whittier, Snow-Bound, 118. The sun, a *snow-blown traveller, sank From sight.

1814.  Byron, in L. Hunt, Autobiogr. (1850), II. 318. I have been *snow-bound … for nearly a month.

1894.  Gladstone, Odes of Horace, II. ix. 20. ’Mid snow-bound mountains of the Medes.

1797.  Tweddell, Rem., xxvii. (1815), 150. All the *snow-capt hills of the canton of Berne.

1879.  A. R. Wallace, Australasia, xii. 242. Its [Tasmania’s] higher mountains are snow-capped for a large part of the year.

1857.  Emerson, Titmouse, 3.

c. 1580.  in P. M. Barnard’s Catal. No. 30 (1909), 12. Thy trumpet … and thy *snow colourd swan.

1649.  G. Daniel, Trinarch., Hen. IV., cxxxix. Soe may Thessalia … Envy the still *Snow-Couer’d Rhodope.

1856.  Kane, Arctic Explor., II. xxii. 218. Emerging from the snow-covered roof.

1834.  J. Phillips, in Encycl. Metrop. (1845), VI. 705/2. The *snow-crested Alps.

1860.  Tyndall, Glac., I. xvi. 106. Those glorious mountains,… snow-crested and star-gemmed.

1603.  Drayton, Bar. Wars, VI. lxiv. From the *snow-crown’d Skidos lofty cleeues.

1832.  G. Downes, Lett. Cont. Countries, I. 99. This fine chain of snow-crowned Alps.

1854.  J. S. C. Abbott, Napoleon (1855), III. i. 14. The deficiency of accommodation for travelers on those bleak and *snow-drifted heights.

1616.  J. Lane, Contn. Sqr.’s T., VII. 225. A plume of *snowe-drivn white.

1776.  Ann. Reg., 115. *Snow-drowned fields, obstructed roads.

1808.  Scott, Marm., V. Introd. Our *snow-encircled home.

1596.  Fitz-Geffrey, Sir F. Drake (1881), 76. *Snowe-feath’red swan, the Nestor of the West.

1726–46.  Thomson, Winter, 995. A thousand *snow-fed torrents.

1820.  Shelley, Prometh. Unb., I. 120. Rock-embosomed lawns, and snow-fed streams.

1818.  Bucke, Italians, III. ii. The *snow-hair’d sire shall recognize his son.

1866.  Whittier, Snow-Bound, 99. Woods of *snow-hung oak.

1808.  Scott, Marm., V. Introd. Carriers *snow-impeded wains.

1850.  Marg. Fuller, Wom. 19th C. (1862), 312. That … freezing, *snow-laden winter.

1642.  H. More, Song of Soul, II. App. 99. *Snow-limb’d, rose-cheek’d.

1855.  Tennyson, Maud, I. XVIII. iii. Shadowing the snow-limb’d Eve.

1856.  Kane, Arctic Explor., II. vii. 80. After a walk over a heavy *snow-lined country of thirty miles.

1820.  Shelley, Prometheus Unbound, I. 434. Yon huge *snow-loaded cedar.

1798.  Miss H. M. Williams, Tour Switzerland, II. App. 292. The modest, *snow-mantled nymphs.

1884.  Manch. Exam., 2 Sept., 5/1. As the ball … is rolled over the snow-mantled earth.

1593.  Nashe, Christ’s T., Wks. (Grosart), IV. 113. His pure *snow-molded soft fleshe. Ibid., 207. Theyr heads, with theyr … *Snow-resembled siluer curlings.

1839–52.  Bailey, Festus, 140. Thine are the *snow-robed mountains circling earth.

1853.  Kane, Grinnell Exped., xxxiv. (1856), 306. The crew have been *snow-rubbing their blankets.

1885.  Black, White Heather, iii. A large and fleecy cloud that clung around the *snow-scarred peak.

1898.  Edinb. Rev., Jan., 55. On the *snow-sprinkled braes of Yarrow.

1843.  Browning, Return of Druses, II. Dost thou *snow-swathe thee kinglier, Lebanon, Than in my dreams?

1804.  Europ. Mag., XLV. 63/2. While, with *snow-tipp’d feet, The … waves she sports among.

1883.  F. S. Renwick, Betrayed, 36. One snow-tipped … feather graced his hair.

1596.  Drayton, Bar. Wars, VI. lxiv. From *snow-topd Skidos frostie cleeues.

c. 1750.  Johnson, Ode Winter, 12. The snow topt cot, the frozen rill.

1823.  F. Clissold, Ascent Mt. Blanc, 23. The snow-topped Apennines.

1879.  Browning, Ivan Ivanovitch, 33. A village,… *Snow-whitened everywhere except the middle road.

1606.  Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. iv. II. Magnificence, 1073. O how I love thee, My *Snow-winged Dove!

1729.  Savage, Wanderer, I. 55. His Robe *snow-wrought, and hoar’d with Age.

  b.  Objective, etc., with vbl. sbs. and pres. pples., as snow-casting, -clearing, -dropping, etc., or with agent-nouns, as snow-breaker, -gatherer, -melter, etc.

  (a)  1542.  Udall, Erasm. Apoph. (1877), 243. The *snowe casting season nowe coming in place.

1894.  Westm. Gaz., 10 Jan., 5/1. He was in charge of the *snow-clearing party.

1838.  Miss Pardoe, River & Desart, II. 44. The majestic tamarind tree overshadowed the *snow-dropping acacia.

1849.  J. Forbes, Physician’s Holiday, viii. (1850), 75. The waters … overflowed their banks during the *snow-melting season.

1757.  Dyer, Fleece, IV. 466. White Imaus, whose *snow-nodding crags Frighten the realms beneath.

1616.  Drumm. of Hawth., Poems, A iv b. *Snow-passing Iuorie that the Eye delights.

1858.  Simmonds, Dict. Trade, *Snow-sweeping Engine, a plough or other contrivance for removing snow from railways and common roads.

1892.  Daily News, 21 Nov., 5/5. Matters … have reached such a point that snow-sweeping is the one harvest they hope for.

  (b)  1791.  Young’s Annals Agric., XVI. 431. The sheep are often obliged to procure their food by scraping the snow oft the ground with their feet…; hence they have obtained the name of *snow-breakers.

1856.  Kane, Arctic Explor., I. xxxi. 424. To reduce our effete *snow-melter to its elements.

1884.  Knight, Dict. Mech., Suppl. 826/2. *Snow Scraper.

1891.  C. Roberts, Adrift Amer., 114. Two snow ploughs, and a gang of 75 *snow shovellers.

1875.  Knight, Dict. Mech., 2231/2. *Snow-sweeper. A vehicle or apparatus adapted for removing snow from paved streets.

  c.  With adjs., chiefly in the sense of ‘as or like snow,’ as snow-bright, -brilliant, -fair, etc.

1572.  Bossewell’s Armorie, Prelim. Verses, Whose *snow-bright skil by snow procurde the Fates to hast thy fate.

1817.  Shelley, Rev. Islam, XII. xli. I saw its marge of snow-bright mountains rear Their peaks aloft.

1853.  F. W. Newman, Odes of Horace, 148. The slave Briséis With hue *snowbrilliant.

1799.  [A. Young], Agric. Linc., 328. Mr. Hyde seldom corn feeds, unless turnips are rotten or *snow deep.

1895.  A. Nutt, in Meyer, Voy. Bran, I. 176. *Snowfair the bodies from top to toe.

1818.  Keats, Endym., II. 79. Some *snow-light cadences Melting to silence.

1841.  Browning, Pippa Passes, Poems (1905), 166. One flash Of the pale, *snow-pure cheek and black bright tresses.

1596.  W. Smith, Chloris (1877), 8. Tripping vpon the *snowe soft downes I spide Three nimphs.

1625.  Milton, Death. Fair Infant, 19. Down he descended from his Snow-soft chaire.

1867.  Gilfillan, Night, I. 12. With the *Snow-still foot of thought.

  9.  Special combs.: snow-blanket, -blink (see quots.); † snow-blossom, a snowflake; snow-bones dial. (see quots.); snow-break, (a) a rush of loose or melting snow; (b) a narrow strip of forest serving as a protection against snow; (c) the breaking of trees by the weight of snow; an area over which this happens; snow-bucking U.S., the action of forcing a railway-train through a snow-drift; snow-craft, the art of traversing or dealing with snow in mountaineering; snow-creep, the gradual movement of snow down a slope; snow-cripple, a tree injured by the weight or pressure of snow; snow-dropper Cant, = snow-gatherer (Slang Dict., 1864); snow-dropping Cant, † -fire (see quots.); snow-foot, (a) an accumulation of snow at the foot of steep Arctic sea-coasts; (b) a foot adapted for walking on snow; snow-gatherer Cant (see quot.); snow-hole, a hole or opening in the burner of a pyrites kiln; snow-house, (a) a house in which snow is preserved in warm weather; (b) a house or hut built of snow; snow-limit, the limit (towards the equator) for the fall of snow at sea-level; snow-merchant, one who deals in snow (for cooling purposes); snow-scape, a snow scene, a landscape covered with snow; snow-sheen, = snow-blink; snow-sleep, a somnolent condition induced by walking in snow; so snow-sleepiness; † snow-stone (see quot.); snow-tan, a tanned complexion produced by exposure to snow; snow-time, the time of snow, winter.

1863.  D. Page, Introd. Text-bk. Phys. Geogr., 154. In the higher latitudes,… snow forms a warm covering for the soil (the *snow-blanket, as it is termed by farmers). Ibid. Within the polar circle, also, the darkness of the long winter is … diminished by the snow-sheen or *snow-blink.

1676.  Phil. Trans., XI. 734. As hard … as to shew a specifical difference betwixt several *Snow-blossoms.

a. 1800.  Pegge, Suppl. Grose, *Snow-bones, remnants of snow after a thaw.

1862.  C. C. Robinson, Dial. Leeds, 416. Snow-bones.… The patches of snow seen stretching along ridges, in ruts, or in furrows, &c., after a partial thaw.

1837.  Carlyle, Fr. Rev., I. VII. iv. And so, like *snowbreak from the mountains,… it storms.

1885.  G. Palmer, in Longman’s Mag., Feb., 422. *‘Snow Bucking’ in the Rocky Mountains.

1892.  C. T. Dent, Mountaineering, 217. *Snowcraft consists largely in the avoidance of difficulties and dangers.

1902.  Encycl. Brit., XXXI. 23. It [mountaineering] consists of two main divisions, rock-craft and snow-craft.

1908.  Science, 28 Feb., 339. Small trees are directly broken and abraded by weight of snow or by *snow creep. Ibid. *Snow-cripples possess the spire-form, with flourishing upper shoots, but the lower branches and foliage are dying or dead.

1839.  Slang Dict., 34. *Snow-dropping—stealing linen off a hedge.

1771.  J. R. Forster, trans. Kalm’s Trav. N. Amer., II. 81. We observed a meteor, commonly called a *snow-fire. [Note.] Probably nothing but an Aurora borealis.

1881.  A. Leslie, trans. Nordenskiöld’s Voy. Vega, I. ii. 73. A steep escarpment … below which there is formed during the course of the winter an immense snowdrift or so-called *‘snow-foot.’

1905.  Westm. Gaz., 11 March, 4/2. This peculiarity of ‘snow-feet’ is not so well marked as in the reindeer or caribou.

1859.  Slang Dict., 97. *Snow gatherers, rogues who steal linen from hedges and lines.

1880.  J. Lomas, Alkali Trade, 48. So adjusted … that … the tongues of flame just show a decided direction towards the exit, or *‘snow’ hole.

1662.  J. Davies, trans. Olearius’ Voy. Ambass., 303. Having made as much [ice] as they desire, they … put it up into *Snow-Houses, whereof there are so many at Ispahan.

1827.  J. Holmes, Hist. United Brethren, ii. (ed. 2), 80. The Esquimaux now began to build a snow-house, about thirty paces from the beach.

1881.  Geikie, Prehistoric Europe, 19. He may even have occupied temporary snow-houses, like those made by the Eskimo.

1705.  Addison, Italy, Wks. 1721, II. 84. The Banditti … often put the *Snow-merchants under contribution.

1886.  Christian Leader, 17 June. Charmed by the beauty of the *snow-scape, with the feathery flakes clinging to the twigs.

1895.  Atkinson, Moorland Par., 372. The unaccustomed eye is fairly bewildered with the strange pale beauty of the snow-scape.

1901.  N. Phelps Richards, in Wide World Mag., VI. 456/2. For he had been overcome by that worst of all enemies to the Australian Alpine traveller—*snow-sleep.

1896.  ‘H. S. Merriman,’ Sowers, xxxii. It was quite dark,… and I had *snow-sleepiness.

1753.  Chambers’ Cycl., Suppl., *Snow-stone,… a name given by some to a very beautiful stone found in America; of which the Spaniards are very fond.

1901.  N. Phelps Richards, in Wide World Mag., VI. 458/2. Almost unrecognisable from *snow-tan and exposure.

1535.  Coverdale, 2 Sam. xxiii. 20. Benaia … slewe a lyon at a well in the *snowe tyme.

1844.  Ld. Houghton, Palm Leaves, Kiosk, II. 17. In the bleak snow-time, when the winds rung shrill.

  b.  In names of animals, insects, etc., as snow-fish (?); snow-flea, -fly, -gnat, -insect, one or other of several species of small insects frequenting snow (also snow-fly, an artificial fly used in angling); snow-leopard, the ounce; snow-mouse (see quots.); snow-panther, the ounce; snow-worm, a worm frequenting or living among snow.

1833.  Marryat, P. Simple, xxix. Not cribbled up like a *snow-fish, chucked out on the ice of the river St. Lawrence.

1888.  Comstock, Introd. Entom., 61. Our common *snow-flea is Achorutes nivicola. This is sometimes a pest where maple sugar is made, the insects collecting … in the sap.

1668.  Charleton, Onomast., 48. Oripæ,… *Snow-Flies.

1867.  F. Francis, Angling, x. (1880), 379. There is a singular fly used on the Beauly, which is there termed the Snow Fly.

1879.  E. P. Wright, Anim. Life, 491. In America we find that these little creatures [sc. spring-tails] are at this day called snow-flies.

1894.  Amateur Gardening, 3 March, 422. The insects … are known as the Cabbage Powder Wing or Snow Flies (Aleyrodes proletella).

1891.  Cent. Dict., s.v., *Snow-gnat. Ibid., *Snow-insect.

1866.  A. Murray, Geog. Distrib. Mammals, 99. The Ounce or *Snow Leopard represents the Leopard in the high regions of Thibet.

1902.  T. W. Webber, Forests Upper India, vi. 54. Prowling snow leopards, white like the weather-beaten rock.

c. 1880.  Cassell’s Nat. Hist., III. 117. The *Snow Mouse (Arvicola nivalis), lives on the Alps and Pyrenees, at elevations of 4,000 feet and upwards.

1891.  Cent. Dict., Snow-mouse,… a lemming of arctic America which turns white in winter, Cuniculus torquatus.

1884.  Sterndale, Mammalia India, 184. The Ounce or *Snow Panther.

1608.  Topsell, Serpents, 816. Old snow … will look somewhat dun…; and therefore the *snow-worms are of the same hiew.

1835.  Burnes, Trav. Bokhara (ed. 2), III. 209. The most singular phenomenon of nature on Hindoo Koosh appears to be the snow-worm, which is described to resemble the silk-worm in its mature state.

1895.  Cambridge Nat. Hist., Insects, I. 194. The occurrence on snow and glaciers of Insects spoken of as snow-fleas, or snow-worms.

  c.  In names of birds, as snow-cock, a snow-partridge, snow-pheasant, Tetraogallus; snow-flight, the snowflake or snow-bunting (Cent. Dict., 1891); snow-fowl, the snow-bunting; snow-grouse, the ptarmigan; † snow-hammer [ad. G. schneeammer], the snow-finch; † snow-hen, the ptarmigan; snow-lark, ? the snow-finch; snow-owl, the snowy owl; snow-partridge, (a) the snow-pheasant, Tetraogallus; (b) a Himalayan gallinaceous bird, Lerwa nivicola; snow-petrel (see quot. 1905); snow-pheasant (see quots.); snow-pigeon, a pigeon of Northern India and Tibet, Columba leuconota; snow-quail U.S., the white-tailed ptarmigan, Lagopus leucurus; snow-sparrow, any passerine bird of the genus Junco. Also SNOW-BIRD, -BUNTING, -FINCH, etc.

c. 1880.  Cassell’s Nat. Hist., IV. 146. The finest representatives of the Partridge are, undoubtedly, the *Snow Cocks or Snow Partridges.

1897.  Lydekker, etc. Conc. Knowl. Nat. Hist., 232. The snow-cocks, or snow-pheasants…, are the largest of the partridge group.

1813.  Montagu, Ornith. Suppl. s.v. Snow-bunting, *Snow-fowl. Oat-fowl.

1884.  Coues, N. Amer. Birds, 585. Lagopus.… Ptarmigan. *Snow Grouse.

1888.  Roosevelt, in Cent. Mag., XXXVI. 210. Up above the timber line were snow-grouse and huge, hoary-white woodchucks.

1802–3.  trans. Pallas’s Trav. (1812), I. 52. During the whole of our journey … we were accompanied by small flights of *snow-hammers.

1648.  Hexham, II. Een sneeuw-hoen,… a *Snowe-hen, or a Shoveler so called because of her w[h]itnesse.

1674.  trans. Scheffer’s Hist. Lapland, 138. I call it Lagopus..., the Germans … term it Schnaehuner, i. e. Snow-hens.

1832.  J. Bree, St. Herbert’s Isle, 48. There never sings the *snow-lark as she soars.

1811.  A. Wilson, Amer. Ornith., Pref. p. xi. *Snow Owl. The largest of his tribe; white, spotted with small brown spots.

1884.  Coues, N. Amer. Birds, 510. Nyctea.… Snow Owls.

1853.  Zoologist, II. 3861. The great *snow-partridge of Persia.

c. 1880.  Cassell’s Nat. Hist., IV. 146. The Himalayan Snow Partridge (Tetraogallus himalayensis).

1895.  Lydekker, Roy. Nat. Hist., iv. 406. The snow-partridge (Lerwa nivicola), inhabiting the higher Himalayan ranges.

1843.  Zoologist, I. 61. The bird called the *snow petrel by sailors.

1905.  E. A. Wilson, in Capt. Scott, Voy. ‘Discovery,’ II. App. II. 483. The Snow petrel (Pagodroma nivea) is perhaps the most beautiful of all the Southern petrels;… it is pure white all over.

1884.  Encycl. Brit., XVII. 341. Among the birds [in Nepal] are the … *snow pheasant (Tetraogallus himalayensis), snow partridge. Ibid. (1885), XVIII. 733. The fine Snow-Pheasants, Crossoptilum—of … which … there are several species.

1902.  T. W. Webber, Forests Upper India, xii. 148. A remarkable bird, the snow pheasant or snow cock (Tetraogallus Tibetanus).

1891.  Cent. Dict., *Snow-pigeon.

1905.  E. Candler, Unveiling of Lhasa, iii. 59. Another common bird is the snow-pigeon.

1895.  W. R. Ogilvie-Grant, Game Birds, I. 45. In the Rocky Mountain region it is generally known by the very appropriate name of ‘White’ or *‘Snow’ Quail.

1884.  Coues, N. Amer. Birds, 377. Junco.… *Snow Sparrows.

1895.  Times, 22 Feb., 3/1. The sight of a snow sparrow, the first of the season.

  d.  In names of plants or fruits, as snow-apple, a variety of apple (Ash, 1775); snow-bush, one or other of various shrubs bearing a profusion of white flowers (Cent. Dict.); snow-gem, = next (Ibid.); snow glory, a hardy garden-plant of the genus Chionodoxa; snow-grass, -mo(u)ld (see quots.); snow-pear [G. schneebirne], a variety of pear; esp. Pyrus nivalis, which comes into season after snow has fallen; snow-plant, (a) a snow-alga; (b) a plant of the Sierra Nevada in California (see quot. 1905); snow-rose, a species of rhododendron (Cent. Dict.); snow-tree (see quot.).

1887.  G. Nicholson’s Dict. Gardening, III. 447/2. *Snow Glory, a common name for Chionodoxa Luciliæ.

1865.  Reader, No. 151. 575/3. The common *snow-grass (Schœnus Pauciflorus).

1875.  Wood & Lapham, Waiting for Mail, 31. Tethering my good old horse to a tussock of snow-grass.

1898.  Morris, Austral Eng., 425/2. Snow-Grass,… Poa cæspitosa,… another name for Wiry-grass.

1902.  Webster’s Suppl., Snow-grass,… a coarse tall grass (Danthonia Raoulii) of New Zealand.

1855.  Ogilvie, Suppl., *Snow-mould, a fungous plant, the Lanosa nivalis, which grows beneath snow, on grasses or cereal crops.

1860.  R. Hogg, Fruit Manual, 212. *Snow [Pear]. See White Doyenné.

1884.  trans. De Candolle’s Orig. Cultivated Pl., 232. Snow-Pear—Pyrus nivalis. This variety of pear is cultivated in Austria, in the north of Italy, and in … France.

1846.  Lindley, Veg. Kingd., 15. The red and green *Snow-plants, which have been described as Confervæ, and assigned to the genus Protococcus.

1882.  Garden, 18 Feb., 114/3. The Snow Plant of California with its rich colour.

1905.  A. R. Wallace, My Life, II. xxxi. 161. The strange Snow plants (Sarcodes sanguinea) … with a dense spike of flowers of a blood-red colour.

1899.  Gardening Illustr., 3 June, 181/2. The *Snow-tree (Ozothamnus rosmarinifolius).