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snow - 14 dictionary results

snow

[snoh]

Use snow in a Sentence

–noun

1.	Meteorology. a precipitation in the form of ice crystals, mainly of intricately branched, hexagonal form and often agglomerated into snowflakes, formed directly from the freezing of the water vapor in the air. Compare ice crystals, snow grains, snow pellets.

2.	these flakes as forming a layer on the ground or other surface.

3.	the fall of these flakes or a storm during which these flakes fall.

4.	something resembling a layer of these flakes in whiteness, softness, or the like: the snow of fresh linen.

Literary.

a.	white blossoms.

b.	the white color of snow.

6.	Slang. cocaine or heroin.

7.	white spots or bands on a television screen caused by a weak signal. Compare hash ¹ (def. 5).

–verb (used without object)

8.	to send down snow; fall as snow.

9.	to descend like snow.

–verb (used with object)

10.	to let fall as or like snow.

11.

Slang.

a.	to make an overwhelming impression on: The view really snowed them.

b.	to persuade or deceive: She was snowed into believing everything.

—Verb phrase

12.

snow under,

a.	to cover with or bury in snow.

b.	to overwhelm with a larger amount of something than can be conveniently dealt with.

c.	to defeat overwhelmingly.

Origin:
bef. 900; (n.) ME; OE snāw; c. D sneeuw, G Schnee, ON snǣr, Goth snaiws, L nix (gen. nivis), Gk níps (acc. nípha), OCS sněgŭ; (v.) ME snowen, deriv. of the n.; r. ME snewen, OE snīwan; c. OHG snīwan (G schneien), MLG, MD snīen

Related forms:

snowless, adjective

snowlike, adjective

Snow

[snoh]

–noun

Sir Charles Percy (C. P. Snow

), 1905–80, English novelist and scientist.

Origin:
1665–75

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To snow

snow (snō)

Frozen precipitation in the form of white or translucent hexagonal ice crystals that fall in soft, white flakes.
A falling of snow; a snowstorm.
Something resembling snow, as:
1. The white specks on a television screen resulting from weak reception.
2. Slang Cocaine.
3. Slang Heroin.

v.   snowed, snow·ing, snows

v.   intr.
To fall as or in snow.
v.   tr.

To cover, shut off, or close off with snow: We were snowed in.
Slang To overwhelm with insincere talk, especially with flattery.

Phrasal Verb(s):
snow under

To overwhelm: I was snowed under with work.
To defeat by a very large margin.

[Middle English, from Old English snāw; see sneig^wh- in Indo-European roots.]

Snow (snō)

British writer and scientist who is known especially for his 11-volume series Strangers and Brothers (1940-1970).

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Snow

Snow\, n. [LG. snaue, or D. snaauw, from LG. snau a snout, a beak.] (Naut.) A square-rigged vessel, differing from a brig only in that she has a trysail mast close abaft the mainmast, on which a large trysail is hoisted.

Snow

Snow\, n. [OE. snow, snaw, AS. sn[=a]w; akin to D. sneeuw, OS. & OHG. sn[=e]o, G. schnee, Icel. sn[ae]r, snj[=o]r, snaj[=a]r, Sw. sn["o], Dan. snee, Goth. snaiws, Lith. sn["e]gas, Russ. snieg', Ir. & Gael. sneachd, W. nyf, L. nix, nivis, Gr. acc. ni`fa, also AS. sn[=i]wan to snow, G. schneien, OHG. sn[=i]wan, Lith. snigti, L. ningit it snows, Gr. ni`fei, Zend snizh to snow; cf. Skr. snih to be wet or sticky. [root]172.]

1. Watery particles congealed into white or transparent crystals or flakes in the air, and falling to the earth, exhibiting a great variety of very beautiful and perfect forms.

Note: Snow is often used to form compounds, most of which are of obvious meaning; as, snow-capped, snow-clad, snow-cold, snow-crowned, snow-crust, snow-fed, snow-haired, snowlike, snow-mantled, snow-nodding, snow-wrought, and the like.

2. Fig.: Something white like snow, as the white color (argent) in heraldry; something which falls in, or as in, flakes.

The field of snow with eagle of black therein. --Chaucer.

Red snow. See under Red.

Snow bunting. (Zo["o]l.) See Snowbird, 1.

Snow cock (Zo["o]l.), the snow pheasant.

Snow flea (Zo["o]l.), a small black leaping poduran (Achorutes nivicola) often found in winter on the snow in vast numbers.

Snow flood, a flood from melted snow.

Snow flower (Bot.), the fringe tree.

Snow fly, or Snow insect (Zo["o]l.), any one of several species of neuropterous insects of the genus Boreus. The male has rudimentary wings; the female is wingless. These insects sometimes appear creeping and leaping on the snow in great numbers.

Snow gnat (Zo["o]l.), any wingless dipterous insect of the genus Chionea found running on snow in winter.

Snow goose (Zo["o]l.), any one of several species of arctic geese of the genus Chen. The common snow goose (Chen hyperborea), common in the Western United States in winter, is white, with the tips of the wings black and legs and bill red. Called also white brant, wavey, and Texas goose. The blue, or blue-winged, snow goose (C. c[oe]rulescens) is varied with grayish brown and bluish gray, with the wing quills black and the head and upper part of the neck white. Called also white head, white-headed goose, and bald brant.

Snow leopard (Zool.), the ounce.

Snow line, lowest limit of perpetual snow. In the Alps this is at an altitude of 9,000 feet, in the Andes, at the equator, 16,000 feet.

Snow mouse (Zo["o]l.), a European vole (Arvicola nivalis) which inhabits the Alps and other high mountains.

Snow pheasant (Zo["o]l.), any one of several species of large, handsome gallinaceous birds of the genus Tetraogallus, native of the lofty mountains of Asia. The Himalayn snow pheasant (T. Himalayensis) in the best-known species. Called also snow cock, and snow chukor.

Snow partridge. (Zo["o]l.) See under Partridge.

Snow pigeon (Zo["o]l.), a pigeon (Columba leuconota) native of the Himalaya mountains. Its back, neck, and rump are white, the top of the head and the ear coverts are black.

Snow plant (Bot.), a fleshy parasitic herb (Sarcodes sanguinea) growing in the coniferous forests of California. It is all of a bright red color, and is fabled to grow from the snow, through which it sometimes shoots up.

Snow

Snow\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Snowed; p. pr. & vb. n. Snowing.] To fall in or as snow; -- chiefly used impersonally; as, it snows; it snowed yesterday.

Snow

Snow\, v. t. To scatter like snow; to cover with, or as with, snow. --Donne. Shak.

Language Translation for : snow

Spanish: nieve,

German: der Schnee,

Japanese: 雪

More Translations »

snow (n.)

O.E. snaw "snow," from P.Gmc. *snaiwaz (cf. O.S., O.H.G. sneo, O.Fris., M.L.G. sne, M.Du. snee, Du. sneeuw, Ger. Schnee, O.N. snjor, Goth. snaiws "snow"), from PIE *sniegwh-/*snoigwho- (cf. Gk. nipha, L. nix (gen. nivis), O.Ir. snechta, Welsh nyf, Lith. sniegas, O.Prus. snaygis, O.C.S. snegu, Rus. snieg', Slovak sneh "snow"). The cognate in Skt., snihyati, came to mean "he gets wet." As slang for "cocaine" it is attested from 1914. Snowshoe first recorded 1674; snowflake is 1734; snowplow is from 1792, first mentioned in a New Hampshire context; snowman is from 1827; snowmobile first attested 1931, in ref. to Admiral Byrd's expedition.

snow (v.)

c.1300, replacing O.E. sniwan, which would have yielded modern snew (which existed as a parallel form until 17c. and, in Yorkshire, even later), from the root of snow (n.).

"Also þikke as snow þat snew,
Or al so hail þat stormes blew."
[Robert Mannyng of Brunne, transl. Wace's "Chronicle," c.1330]

The figurative sense of "overwhelm" is 1880, Amer.Eng., in phrase to snow (someone) under. Snow job "strong, persistent persuasion in a dubious cause" is World War II armed forces slang, probably from the same metaphoric image.

Main Entry: snow
Pronunciation: 'snO
Function: noun
1 : any of various congealed or crystallized substances resembling snow in appearance snow>
2 slang a : COCAINE b : HEROIN

snow (snō) Pronunciation Key
Precipitation that falls to earth in the form of ice crystals that have complex branched hexagonal patterns. Snow usually falls from stratus and stratocumulus clouds, but it can also fall from cumulus and cumulonimbus clouds.

Snow

Common in Palestine in winter (Ps. 147:16). The snow on the tops of the Lebanon range is almost always within view throughout the whole year. The word is frequently used figuratively by the sacred writers (Job 24:19; Ps. 51:7; 68:14; Isa. 1:18). It is mentioned only once in the historical books (2 Sam. 23:20). It was "carried to Tyre, Sidon, and Damascus as a luxury, and labourers sweltering in the hot harvest-fields used it for the purpose of cooling the water which they drank (Prov. 25:13; Jer. 18:14). No doubt Herod Antipas, at his feasts in Tiberias, enjoyed also from this very source the modern luxury of ice-water."

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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snow

In addition to the idioms beginning with snow, also see pure as the driven snow.

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