snow

¹

[ snoh ]

noun

1. Meteorology. 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.

5. Literary.
   1. white blossoms.
   2. the white color of snow.
6. Slang. cocaine or heroin.
7. Usually snows. Informal. snow tires ( def ):

   Most people up here keep their snows on through the end of April.

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

verb (used without object)

1. to send down snow; fall as snow.
2. to descend like snow.

verb (used with object)

1. to let fall as or like snow.
2. Slang.
   1. to make an overwhelming impression on:

      The view really snowed them.

   2. to persuade or deceive:

      She was snowed into believing everything.

verb phrase

1. 1. to cover with or bury in snow.
   2. to overwhelm with a larger amount of something than can be conveniently dealt with.
   3. to defeat overwhelmingly.

Snow

²

[ snoh ]

noun

1. Sir Charles Percy C. P. Snow, 1905–80, English novelist and scientist.

Snow

¹

/ snəʊ /

noun

1. SnowC(harles) P(ercy), Baron19051980MBritishWRITING: novelistSCIENCE: physicist C ( harles ) P ( ercy ), Baron. 1905–80, British novelist and physicist. His novels include the series Strangers and Brothers (1949–70)

snow

²

/ snəʊ /

noun

1. precipitation from clouds in the form of flakes of ice crystals formed in the upper atmosphere niveous
2. a layer of snowflakes on the ground
3. a fall of such precipitation
4. anything resembling snow in whiteness, softness, etc
5. the random pattern of white spots on a television or radar screen, produced by noise in the receiver and occurring when the signal is weak or absent
6. slang.
   cocaine
7. See carbon dioxide snow

verb

1. intr; with it as subject to be the case that snow is falling
2. tr; usually passive, foll by over, under, in, or up to cover or confine with a heavy fall of snow
3. often withit as subject to fall or cause to fall as or like snow
4. slang.
   tr to deceive or overwhelm with elaborate often insincere talk See snow job
5. be snowed under
   to be overwhelmed, esp with paperwork

snow

/ snō /

1. 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.

Derived Forms

• ˈsnowless, adjective
• ˈsnowˌlike, adjective

Other Words From

• snow·less adjective
• snow·like adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of snow¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English noun snou(e), Old English snāw; cognate with Dutch sneeuw, German Schnee, Old Norse snǣr, Gothic snaiws, Latin nix (genitive nivis ), Greek níps (accusative nípha ), Old Church Slavonic sněgŭ; verb derivative of the noun

Origin of snow²

First recorded in 1665–75

Word History and Origins

Origin of snow¹

Old English snāw; related to Old Norse snjōr, Gothic snaiws, Old High German snēo, Greek nipha

Idioms and Phrases

• pure as the driven snow

Example Sentences

Even I learned some new bits, such as the glorious aside Baggott drily delivers that Francis Bacon died from pneumonia that he contracted from stuffing a dead chicken with snow to see if it would preserve it.

From Nautilus

The slim, 1-inch body fits easily in a pocket, and with an IP rating of 68, the light won’t let you down in rain, sleet, or snow.

From Popular-Science

Spring arrived, as always in the Kashmir Valley, with melting snow and blossoming chinar trees.

From MIT Technology Review

His graduate research focused on the glacially carved lakes surrounding California’s Mount Shasta — a setting that gave Priscu, after a childhood in the Mojave Desert, full-on exposure to snow and ice.

From Quanta Magazine

Bright snow and ice reflect much of the incoming radiation from the sun.

From Science News

Not quite, but at one point the temperature registered 29 below zero, with 21 inches of snow.

From The Daily Beast

But mostly they just walked, their faces somber, their hands shaking as the snow began to fall.

From The Daily Beast

There was snow on the ground when I made my last trip to see Sheffield.

From The Daily Beast

“I think there's too much snow in Finland at the present time,” he announces.

From The Daily Beast

Because the American film industry is based in the sun bleached sands of Southern California, movies rarely feature snow.

From The Daily Beast

To advance in such circumstances was out of the question, he therefore set about building a miniature hut of snow.

From Project Gutenberg

By his commandment he maketh the snow to fall apace, and sendeth forth swiftly the lightnings of his judgment.

From Project Gutenberg

At the foot of the pass, the valley widened a little, though still with steep, snow-capped cliffs crowding it on either side.

From Project Gutenberg

I would not just then have traded off that steamboat for several square miles of snow-capped sublimity.

From Project Gutenberg

She may be as chaste as unsunned snow, she is certainly as cold: but for warm, inspiring virtue!

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• blizzard
• snowstorm