snow
UK /snəʊ̯/ · US /snoʊ̯/ noun, verb, adjective, proper noun
Forms snows snowing snowed snew snown snowest snowedst snoweth snaw Snowe
- noun (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.
- noun (countable) An instance of the falling of snow (etymology 1, noun sense 1); a snowfall; also, a snowstorm. “We have had several heavy snows this year.”
- noun (countable) A period of time when snow falls; a winter.
- noun (countable) An accumulation or spread of snow.
- noun (countable, cooking) A dish or component of a dish resembling snow, especially one made by whipping egg whites until creamy. “apple snow lemon snow”
- noun (uncountable) The white color of snow.
- noun (figurative) Clusters of white flowers.
- noun (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.
- verb (intransitive, impersonal) Preceded by the dummy subject it: to have snow (noun etymology 1, noun sense 1) fall from the atmosphere. “It is snowing. It started to snow.”
- verb (also figurative) Of a thing: to fall like snow.
- verb To cause (something) to fall like snow.
- verb To cover or scatter (a place or thing) with, or as if with, snow.
- verb To cause (hair) to turn white; also, to cause (someone) to have white hair.
- verb (originally US, slang) To convince or hoodwink (someone), especially by presenting confusing information or through flattery.
- verb (poker) To bluff (an opponent) in draw poker by playing a hand which has no value, or by refusing to draw any cards.
- verb (US, slang, chiefly passive voice) To cause (someone) to be under the effect of a drug; to dope, to drug.
- adjective (Wikimedia jargon, of an outcome of a process a page undergoes) Done because the alternate outcome is very unlikely to pass.
- noun (nautical, historical) A square-rigged sailing vessel similar to a brig formerly used as a warship, with a foremast, a mainmast, and a trysail mast immediately abaft (behind) the mainmast.
- proper noun A surname.
Synonyms
shash static blow nose candy benzoylmethylecgonine Bolivian marching powder booger sugar boots California corn flakes charlie ching coke corinne crystals flake girl hard white marching powder nose beer nose powder snowfall C. P. Snow Charles Percy Snow Baron Snow of Leicester C bamboozle hoodwink pull the wool over someone's eyes lead by the nose play false
Etymology
The noun is derived from Middle English snaw, snou, snow (“snow; accumulation of snow; snowfall; snowstorm; whiteness”), from Old English snāw (“snow”), from Proto-West Germanic *snaiw (“snow”), from Proto-Germanic *snaiwaz (“snow”), 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) + -en (suffix forming the infinitive of verbs). Displaced Old English snīwan, whence English snew (obsolete).
Verb etymology 1, verb sense 2.3.2 (“to convince or hoodwink (someone)”) probably refers to a person being blinded or confused by a snowstorm.
The adjective comes from the phrase a snowball's chance in hell, also see snowball clause at Wikipedia.
* Scots snaw (“snow”)
* Yola sneew, sneow, snow, snowe (“snow”)
* North Frisian Sne, sni, snii, snii'e, snä, snäi (“snow”)
* Saterland Frisian Snee (“snow”)
* West Frisian snie (“snow”)
* Alemannic German schnee, schnei, schnia, schné, schnìj (“snow”)
* Bavarian schnea, sghneab (“snow”)
* Cimbrian snea, snèa (“snow”)
* Dutch snee, sneeuw (“snow”)
* German Schnee (“snow”)
* Limburgish Schnië, snieë (“snow”)
* Luxembourgish Schnéi (“snow”)
* Mòcheno schnea (“snow”)
* Vilamovian śnej, šnej, śnyi (“snow”)
* Yiddish שניי (shney, “snow”)
* Danish sne (“snow”)
* Elfdalian sniųo (“snow”)
* Faroese snjógvur (“snow”)
* Icelandic snjár, snjór, snær (“snow”)
* Norwegian Bokmål sne, snø (“snow”)
* Norwegian Nynorsk snjo, snø (“snow”)
* Swedish snö (“snow”)
* Gothic 𐍃𐌽𐌰𐌹𐍅𐍃 (snaiws, “snow”)
* Irish sneachta (“snow”)
* Manx sniaghtey (“snow”)
* Scottish Gaelic sneachd, sneachda (“snow”)
* Welsh nyf (“snow”)
* Latin nix (“snow”)
* Ancient Greek νίψ (níps, “snow”)
* Latvian snìegs (“snow”)
* Lithuanian sniẽgas (“snow”)
* Belarusian, Russian, and Macedonian снег (sneg, “snow”)
* Bulgarian сняг (snjag, “snow”)
* Czech sníh (“snow”)
* Polish śnieg, śmiég (“snow”)
* Serbo-Croatian сне̑г, сније̑г, snȇg, snig, snijȇg (“snow”)
* Slovak sneh (“snow”)
* Slovene sneg (“snow”)
* Ukrainian сніг (snih, “snow”)
* Shughni жиниҷ (žiniǰ, “snow”)
* Avestan 𐬯𐬥𐬀𐬉𐬲𐬀𐬌𐬙𐬌 (snaēžaⁱti, “to snow”)
* Sanskrit स्नेह (snéha, “grease, oil”)
Borrowed from Dutch snauw, snaauw, or Low German snau; further etymology uncertain, possibly from Low German snau (“beak”), related to Middle Low German snute (“snout”) (whence English snout), from Proto-West Germanic *snūt (“snout”), from Proto-Germanic *snūtaz (“snout”), possibly imitative.
Webster’s 1913
- noun 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.
- noun 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.
- noun Fig.: Something white like snow, as the white color (argent) in heraldry; something which falls in, or as in, flakes.
- verb To fall in or as snow; --chiefly used impersonally; as, it snows; it snowed yesterday.
Etymology [LG. snaue, or D. snaauw, from LG. snau a snout, a beak.]
Etymology [OE. snow, snaw, AS. snaw; akin to D. sneeuw, OS. & OHG. sneo, G. schnee, Icel. snær, snjor, snajar, Sw. snö, Dan. snee, Goth. snaiws, Lith. snëgas, Russ. snieg', Ir. & Gael. sneachd, W. nyf, L. nix, nivis, Gr. acc. ni`fa, also AS. sniwan to snow, G. schneien, OHG. sniwan, Lith. snigti, L. ningit it snows, Gr. ni`fei, Zend snizh to snow; cf. Skr. snih to be wet or sticky. sq. root172.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “snow”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details