a. and sb. Forms: α. 1 snawiʓ, 3 snawi, 5, Sc. 8– snawy, 8 snawie. β. 6–7 snowie, snowey, 6– snowy. [f. SNOW sb.1 Cf. Fris. snieich, MDu. sneeich, sneeuwich (Du. sneeuwig), OS. snêgig (MLG. snêyg, snyig), MHG. schnêig (G. schneeig), Sw. snöig, snögig.]
A. adj. 1. Of weather, time, etc.: Characterized by the presence or prevalence of snow.
c. 1000. Saxon Leechd., III. 274. Se feorða heafod wind … blæwð norðan cealde & snawlic [v.r. snawiʓ].
1600. J. Pory, trans. Leo’s Africa, IX. 333. It ouerfloweth not but in rainie and snowie weather.
1635. Swan, Spec. M., v. § 2 (1643), 155. Your experienced husbandman desireth that the winter may be cold and snowie.
1660. Boyle, New Exp. Phys.-Mech., xviii. 133. It was a Snowy day.
1701. O. Heywood, Diaries (1885), IV. 175. This is a snowy morning.
1748. T. Smith, Jrnl. (1849), 270. A cold, snowy, uncomfortable month.
1800. Campbell, Ode to Winter, 53. Milder yet thy snowy breezes Pour on yonder tented shores.
1830. Carlyle, Misc. (1857), II. 143. Let the weather be sunny or snowy.
1884. E. P. Roe, Nat. Ser. Story, vii. The snowiest day of winter.
2. Composed of melted snow; consisting, formed or made of snow.
α. a. 1240. Sawles Warde, in O. E. Hom., I. 251. Þer is … toðes hechelunge iþe snawi weattres.
1483. Cath. Angl., 346/2. Snawy, niueus.
1785. Burns, Addr. to Deil, xii. When thowes dissolve the snawy hoord.
β. 1565. Cooper, Thesaurus, Niueus liquor, snowy water.
1613. Purchas, Pilgrimage (1614), 862. The lower Mountaines … haue more Giantly ouer-lookers, with Snowie lockes and Cloudie lookes.
1730. Bailey (fol.), Sleetiness,… snowy Rain.
1754. Gray, Pleasure, 26. The sullen year Saw the snowy whirlwind fly.
1784. Cowper, Task, V. 98. On the flood, Indurated and fixt, the snowy weight Lies undissolv’d.
1818. Byron, Ch. Har., IV. clxxxi. As the snowy flake, They melt.
1860. Tyndall, Glac., I. xii. 90. The Glacier … thrust through the black pines its snowy tongue.
3. Covered with snow; abounding in snow.
1548. Elyot, Niualia loca, snowy places.
1592. Soliman & Pers., IV. i. 83. Neck, whiter then the snowie Apenines.
1617. Moryson, Itin., I. 98. We continually did see the snowy toppes of those Mountaines.
1638. Brathwait, Barnabees Jrnl., III. (1818), 137. Thence to Ayscarth, from a mountaine … cliffs steep and snowy … saw I.
a. 1700. Evelyn, Diary, 2 Nov. 1644. Monte Mantuamiato … peeping above any clowds with its snowy head.
1784. Cowper, Task, V. 7. His slanting ray Slides ineffectual down the snowy vale.
1847. Tennyson, Princess, IV. 2. The splendour falls on castle walls And snowy summits old in story.
1871. L. Stephen, Playgr. Eur., ii. (1894), 49. The snowy ranges of California … seem to be unpleasantly bare and chill.
transf. 1648. J. Beaumont, Psyche, XIII. xlv. That fire of leacherous rage Which burnt ev’n in their cold and snowy age.
4. Of or resembling the pure white color of snow; snow-white, niveous.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., I. x. 48. That godly aged Sire, With snowy lockes. Ibid., III. i. 38. Which staines his snowy skin with hatefull hew.
1592. Shaks., Rom. & Jul., I. v. 50. So shewes a Snowy Doue trooping with Crowes.
1662. J. Davies, trans. Olearius’ Voy. Ambass., 16. Many antient Men, venerable for their long snowy beards.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., III. 594. Ev’n though a snowy Ram thou shalt behold.
1725. Pope, Odyss., XXIV. 93. We then collect thy snowy bones.
1786. Burns, To Mountain Daisy, v. Thy snawie bosom sun-ward spread.
1833. L. Ritchie, Wand. by Loire, 21. Towering caps of the snowiest muslin, enriched with lace.
1882. Garden, 9 Sept., 224/3. A charming little plant … with dense tufts of snowy blooms.
transf. 1646. Bp. Hall, Poems, 95. There did he loose his snowy Innocence.
b. Used to qualify white or whiteness.
1785. Pennant, Arct. Zool., II. 549. Of a snowy whiteness.
1791. Cowper, Yardley Oak, 128. A splinter’d stump bleach’d to a snowy white.
1838. Dickens, Nickleby, l. Stained rotten canvas looked a snowy white.
1859. Jephson, Brittany, v. 50. That snowy whiteness which I so much admired in the Breton caps.
1883. Grant Allen, in Longman’s Mag., July, 308. Some Alpine buttercups are snowy-white.
5. a. In the specific names of birds or animals (see quots.).
1829. Griffith, trans. Cuvier, VIII. 557. *Snowy Auk, Mormon Glacialis.
1895. Funk’s Stand. Dict., *Snowy egret or heron, an entirely white egret (Ardea candidissima) ranging from New York to Chile.
1829. Griffith, trans. Cuvier, VI. 44. *Snowy Falcon, Falco niveus. Ibid. (1827), V. 265. Lepus Glacialis (*Snowy Hare).
1785. Latham, Gen. Synop. Birds, III. I. 92. *Snowy Heron. Ardea nivea.
1813. A. Wilson, Amer. Ornith., VII. 120. Snowy Heron, Ardea candidissima. The Snowy Heron seems particularly fond of the salt marshes during summer.
1872. Coues, N. Amer. Birds, 267. Little White Egret. Snowy Heron…. Plumage always entirely white.
1885. *Snowy lemming [see LEMMING 2].
1781. Latham, Gen. Synop. Birds, I. I. 132. *Snowy Owl…. The whole plumage is white as snow.
1876. Nature, XIV. 562/1. The additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens … include … two Snowy Owls (Nyctea nivea).
1895. Lydekker, Roy. Nat. Hist., IV. 162. The great snowy owl (Nyctea scandiaca) cannot be confounded with any other member of the order, being the only representative of its genus.
1777. Forster, Voy. round World, I. 96. Its colour induced us to call it the *snowy-petrel.
1895. Lydekker, Roy. Nat. Hist., IV. 525. The snowy petrel (Pagodroma nivea).
1872. Coues, N. Amer. Birds, 245. *Snowy Plover…; several lateral tail feathers entirely white.
1891. Cent. Dict., s.v., Snowy plover, Ægialites nivosus, a small ring-plover of the Pacific and Mexican Gulf coasts of the United States.
b. In names of flowers, etc.
1822. Hortus Anglicus, II. 392. Tussilago Nivea. Snowy Colt’s-foot.
1889. R. A. R. Bennett, Marine Aquaria, viii. 71. Snowy Anemone,… Sagartia nivea.
1901. Gardener, 12 Jan., 1047/3. In cultivation the Snowy Crowfoot [Ranunculus amplexicaulis] generally blooms in April or May.
c. Snowy pear, the snow-pear (see SNOW sb.1 9 d).
1884. trans. De Candolle’s Orig. Cultivated Pl., 233. The snowy pears cultivated in France to make the drink called perry have become wild in the woods here and there.
6. Comb., as snowy-banded, -bosomed, etc.
a. 1618. Sylvester, Cup of Consolation, 10, Wks. (Grosart), II. 263. Where Snowie-winged Victory doth wun.
1648. J. Beaumont, Psyche, III. cxviii. Pure and snowy-countnanc’d Linen.
1717. Rowe, Ode for New Year, ii. Snowy-headed Winter leads.
1744. Akenside, Pleas. Imag., III. 434. On the brink of Ganges waits The snowy-vested seer.
1760. Fawkes, trans. Anacreon, Ode, v. 19. With snowy-bosomed Sappho gay.
1830. Howitt, Bk. Seasons (1837), 145. The verdurous, snowy-flowered elder.
1836–48. B. D. Walsh, Aristoph., Clouds, I. iii. Mimas’s snowy-capped summit.
1855. Tennyson, Maud, I. VIII. I heard no longer The snowy-banded … priest intone.
1889. Conan Doyle, Micah Clarke, 227. A great herd of snowy-fleeced sheep streamed towards us.
B. sb. a. slang. Linen. b. The snowy owl.
1887. J. W. Horsley, Jottings from Jail, 6. We used to go and smug snowy (steal linen) that was hung out to dry.
1904. P. Fountain, Gt. North-West, etc., xiii. 144. If these are European snowies, the North-West Territory bird is probably a distinct variety. Ibid. The snowy made the feathers fly in a crowd.
Hence Snowyish a., somewhat snowy.
1821. Blackw. Mag., X. 570. It is … rawish—coldish—icyish—snowyish.
