winter
/ˈwɪntə/
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.89 in modern English
Meaning
noun
Traditionally 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.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
Someone with dark skin, eyes and hair, seen as best suited to certain colors of clothing.
Countable
noun
An appliance to be fixed on the front of a grate, to keep a kettle warm, etc.
Countable; Obsolete; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "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."
- "And after summer evermore succeeds Barren winter, with his wrathful nipping cold."
- "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."
- "There shall he learn, ere sixteen winters old, That …"
- "[…] a woman, tall, and strong of aspect, of some thirty winters by seeming, [...]"
- "Life's autumn past, I stand on winter's verge."
Etymology
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: winter, *wintru, *wintruz
Regional Pronunciation
- British English: /ˈwɪntə/