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snow

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: Snow and snów

English

WOTD – 24 December 2024

Etymology 1

A snow-covered road (noun sense 1) in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
Trees in the Pierian Mountains, Greece, covered in snow (noun sense 1).
Snow (noun sense 1) in Victoria, Australia, at about 350 metres elevation. Outside certain mountainous regions, snow is rare in Australia.

The noun is derived from Middle English snaw, snou, snow (“snow; accumulation of snow; snowfall; snowstorm; whiteness”),[1] from Old English snāw (“snow”), from Proto-West Germanic *snaiw (“snow”), from Proto-Germanic *snaiwaz (“snow”),[2] from Proto-Indo-European *snóygʷʰos (“snow”), from *sneygʷʰ- (“to snow”).

The verb is derived from Middle English snouen (“to snow; (figurative) to shower”), from snou, snow (noun) (see above)[3][4] + -en (suffix forming the infinitive of verbs).[5] Displaced Old English snīwan, whence English snew (obsolete).

cognates

Pronunciation

Noun

snow (countable and uncountable, plural snows)

  2. (uncountable) The partly frozen, crystalline state of water that falls from the atmosphere as precipitation in flakes; also, the falling of such flakes; and the accumulation of them on the ground or on objects as a white layer.
    1. (countable) An instance of the falling of snow (sense 1); a snowfall; also, a snowstorm.
      We have had several heavy snows this year.
    2. (countable) A period of time when snow falls; a winter.
    3. (countable) An accumulation or spread of snow.
  3. Something resembling snow (sense 1) in appearance or colour.
    1. (countable, cooking) A dish or component of a dish resembling snow, especially one made by whipping egg whites until creamy.
    2. (uncountable)
      1. The white colour of snow.
        snow:  
      2. (figurative) Clusters of white flowers.
      4. (figurative) The moving pattern of random dots seen on a radar or television screen, etc., when no transmission signal is being received or when there is interference.
        Synonym: shash
        Near-synonym: static
      5. (figurative) Sea foam; sea spray.
      6. (figurative) Also in the plural: white hair on an (older) person's head.
      7. (figurative, poetic) White marble.
      8. (figurative, slang) Money, especially silver coins.
      9. (figurative, slang, dated) White linen which has been washed.
      10. (chemistry) A substance other than water resembling snow when frozen; specifically, frozen carbon dioxide.
        • 2008, Neal Asher, Alien Archaeology:
          Clad in a coldsuit Jael trudged through a thin layer of CO2 snow ...
      11. (marine biology) Clipping of marine snow (“sinking organic detritus in the ocean”).
        • 2012, Caspar Henderson, The Book of Barely Imagined Beings, page 286:
          Lower down, in the 95 percent of the ocean where light does not penetrate, many living things feed on 'marine snow', the steady drizzle of particles of dead matter, whitish in colour, gradually sinking from the euphotic zone above. Other animals then feed on the 'snow' eaters.
      12. (originally US, slang) Cocaine; also (less frequently), heroin or morphine.
        Synonyms: see Thesaurus:cocaine
Derived terms
Translations
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Verb

snow (third-person singular simple present snows, present participle snowing, simple past snowed or (dialectal) snew, past participle snowed or (dialectal) snown)

Snowing in Hockenheim, Germany.
  1. (intransitive, impersonal) Preceded by the dummy subject it: to have snow (noun sense 1) fall from the atmosphere.
    It is snowing.    It started to snow.
    • 1530 July 28 (Gregorian calendar), Iohan Palsgraue [i.e., John Palsgrave], “The Table of Verbes”, in Lesclarcissement de la langue francoyse⸝ […], [London]: […] [Richard Pynson] fynnysshed by Iohan Haukyns, →OCLC, 3rd boke, folio ccclxv, verso, column 2; reprinted Geneva: Slatkine Reprints, October 1972, →OCLC:
      In wynter whan it ſnoweth it is good ſyttynge by a good fyre: […]
    • 1841 February–November, Charles Dickens, “Barnaby Rudge. Chapter 16.”, in Master Humphrey’s Clock, volume III, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, page 21:
      Then there was the watch with staff and lanthorn crying the hour, and the kind of weather; and those who woke up at his voice and turned them round in bed, were glad to hear it rained, or snowed, or blew, or froze, for very comfort's sake.
    1. (also figurative) Of a thing: to fall like snow.
      • 1613, Thomas Heywood, The Brazen Age, […], London: […] Nicholas Okes, […], →OCLC, Act II, signature [C4], verso:
        She [Diana] hath ſent (to plague vs) a huge ſauadge Boare, / Of an vn-meaſured height and magnitude. / […] / His briſtles poynted like a range of pikes / Ranck't on his backe: his foame ſnovves vvhere he feeds / His tuskes are like the Indian Oliphants.
      • 1842, Alfred Tennyson, “The Palace of Art”, in Poems. […], volume I, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 145:
        And there the Ionian father of the rest; / A million wrinkles carved his skin; / A hundred winters snow'd upon his breast, / From cheek and throat and chin.
      • 1894, S[abine] Baring-Gould, “Beggar-my-neighbour”, in The Queen of Love […], volume I, London: Methuen & Co. […], →OCLC, page 153:
        Then all at once he saw, staring him in the face, a knave of spades. The shock was too great for even his iron nerves; his hand trembled, his fingers involuntarily relaxed, and away shot the cards, flying over the platform and snowing upon the audience in the front rows.
  2. (transitive)
    1. To cause (something) to fall like snow.
    2. To cover or scatter (a place) with, or as if with, snow.
    3. (figurative)
      1. To cause (hair) to turn white; also, to cause (someone) to have white hair.
      3. (originally US, slang) To convince or hoodwink (someone), especially by presenting confusing information or through flattery.
      4. (US, slang, chiefly passive voice, voice) To cause (someone) to be under the effect of a drug; to dope, to drug.
        1. (poker) To bluff (an opponent) in draw poker by playing a hand which has no value, or by refusing to draw any cards.
          • 1999 May, Mason Malmuth, “Free Bets and Other Topics”, in Gambling Theory and Other Topics, Las Vegas, Nev.: [Creel Printers for] Two Plus Two Publishing, →ISBN, part 2 (Theory in Practice), page 84:
            [T]he Adventurer knew that despite what [Mike] Caro had said, there was a good chance that he was "snowing" (playing a hand that had no value and could win only if his opponent threw his cards away). Notice that his creates a dilemma for the Adventurer. If he bets and Caro is on a snow, he will lose a bet, but if he checks and his opponent is not on a snow, he also will lose a bet.
Conjugation
Conjugation of snow
infinitive (to) snow
present tense past tense
1st-person singular snow snowed
2nd-person singular snow, snowest† snowed, snowedst†
3rd-person singular snows, snoweth† snowed
plural snow
subjunctive snow snowed
imperative snow —
participles snowing snowed

†Archaic or obsolete.

Derived terms
Translations

See also

See also

Etymology 2

From Low German Snaue, or Dutch snauw, from Low German Snau (“a snout, a beak”). See snout.

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia
A painting of a naval snow by Charles Brooking, from 1759

Alternative forms

snaw

Noun

snow (plural snows)

  1. (nautical, historical) A two-masted, square-rigged vessel, trysail-mast stepped immediately abaft the main mast.
See also

References

  1. ^ “snou, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  2. ^ “snow, n.1”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2024; “snow, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  3. ^ “snouen, v.(1)”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  4. ^ “snow, v.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, March 2024; “snow, v.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  5. ^ “-en, suf.(3)”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Further reading

Anagrams

Middle English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Old English snāw, from Proto-West Germanic *snaiw, from Proto-Germanic *snaiwaz.

Pronunciation

Noun

snow (plural snowes)

  1. snow (frozen water as precipitation, either while falling or once landed)
  2. snow-white (a snowy white)
  3. The temperature where snow appears.
  4. A blanket of snow; a snowing.

Derived terms

Descendants

  • English: snow
  • Scots: snaw
  • Yola: sneow, sneew, snowe, snow

References

Spanish

Pronunciation

Noun

snow m (uncountable)

  1. snowboarding

Derived terms

Yola

Noun

snow

  1. Alternative form of sneow
    • 1867, “THE WEDDEEN O BALLYMORE”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, number 4, page 96:
      An neeat wooden trenshoorès var whiter than snow.
      And neat wooden trenchers far whiter than snow.

References

  • Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 96
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