season
UK [ˈsiː.zn̩] · US [ˈsi.zn̩] noun, verb
Forms seasons seasoning seasoned
- noun Each of the divisions of a year based on the prevailing weather: spring, summer, autumn (fall) and winter; or the rainy (monsoon) and dry season, depending on the climate.
- noun A period of the year when something particular happens. “mating season”
- noun A period of the year in which a place is most busy or frequented for business, amusement, etc.
- noun (pars pro toto, metonymic) A year, but with emphasis on the most important part of the year in context, such as the months when plants or animals grow and reproduce. “This invasive species reproduces so rapidly that it can completely take over an area in just a couple seasons.”
- noun (cricket) The period over which a series of Test matches are played.
- noun (obsolete) That which gives relish; seasoning.
- noun (Canada, US, Australia, broadcasting) A group of episodes of a television or radio program broadcast in regular intervals with a long break between each group, usually with one year between the beginning of each. “The third season of Robot Chicken aired from 2007 to 2008.”
- noun (archaic) An extended, undefined period of time.
- verb (transitive) To habituate, accustom, or inure (someone or something) to a particular use, purpose, or circumstance. “to season oneself to a climate”
- verb (transitive, by extension) To prepare by drying or hardening, or removal of natural juices. “The timber needs to be seasoned.”
- verb (intransitive) To become mature; to grow fit for use; to become adapted to a climate.
- verb (intransitive) To become dry and hard, by the escape of the natural juices, or by being penetrated with other substance. “The wood has seasoned in the sun.”
- verb (transitive) To mingle: to moderate, temper, or qualify by admixture.
- verb (obsolete) To impregnate (literally or figuratively).
- verb (transitive) To flavour food with spices, herbs or salt.
Synonyms
yeartide yeartime time series desiccate dehydrate exiccate fordry wont age dry out dry up shrivel up admix inseminate fertilize seed grow up mature alloy time of year flavor flavour harden temper mollify
Etymology
From Middle English sesoun, seson (“time of the year”), from Old French seson, saison (“time of sowing, seeding”), from Latin satiō (“act of sowing, planting”) from satum, past participle of serō (“to sow, plant”) from Proto-Indo-European *seh₁- (“to sow, plant”). Akin to Old English sāwan (“to sow”), sǣd (“seed”). Doublet of saison. Displaced native Middle English sele (“season”) (from Old English sǣl (“season, time, occasion”)), Middle English tide (“season, time of year”) (from Old English tīd (“time, period, yeartide, season”)).
Webster’s 1913
- noun One of the divisions of the year, marked by alternations in the length of day and night, or by distinct conditions of temperature, moisture, etc., caused mainly by the relative position of the earth with respect to the sun. In the north temperate zone, four seasons, namely, spring, summer, autumn, and winter, are generally recognized.
- noun Hence, a period of time, especially as regards its fitness for anything contemplated or done; a suitable or convenient time; proper conjuncture; as, the season for planting; the season for rest.
- verb To render suitable or appropriate; to prepare; to fit. He is fit and seasoned for his passage. Shak.
- verb To fit for any use by time or habit; to habituate; to accustom; to inure; to ripen; to mature; as, to season one to a climate.
Etymology [OE. sesoun, F. saison, properly, the sowing time, fr. L. satio a sowing, a planting, fr. serere, satum, to sow, plant; akin to E. sow, v., to scatter, as seed.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “season”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details