WINTER

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does winter mean? 

• WINTER (noun)
  The noun WINTER has 1 sense:

1. the coldest season of the year; in the northern hemisphere it extends from the winter solstice to the vernal equinox

  Familiarity information: WINTER used as a noun is very rare.

• WINTER (verb)
  The verb WINTER has 1 sense:

1. spend the winter

  Familiarity information: WINTER used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• WINTER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The coldest season of the year; in the northern hemisphere it extends from the winter solstice to the vernal equinox

Classified under:

Nouns denoting time and temporal relations

Synonyms:

winter; wintertime

Hypernyms ("winter" is a kind of...):

season; time of year (one of the natural periods into which the year is divided by the equinoxes and solstices or atmospheric conditions)

Meronyms (parts of "winter"):

winter solstice (December 22, when the sun is at its southernmost point)

midwinter (the middle of winter)

Derivation:

winter (spend the winter)

winterize (prepare for winter)

wintery; wintry (characteristic of or occurring in winter)

• WINTER (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they winter    ... he / she / it winters   
Past simple: wintered   
Past participle: wintered   
-ing form: wintering   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Spend the winter

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Synonyms:

overwinter; winter

Context example:

Shackleton's men overwintered on Elephant Island

Hypernyms (to "winter" is one way to...):

pass; spend (use up a period of time in a specific way)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

winter (the coldest season of the year; in the northern hemisphere it extends from the winter solstice to the vernal equinox)

 Context examples 

Is there no chance of my seeing you and your sisters in town this winter, Miss Dashwood?

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

What!—engaged to her all the winter—before either of them came to Highbury?

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is more adapted for summer than for winter.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Raw and chill was the winter morning: my teeth chattered as I hastened down the drive.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

“If you are right,” I said, then we must prepare to winter here.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Upon the whole, it was a comfortable winter to her; for though it brought no William to England, the never-failing hope of his arrival was worth much.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

It is not in the nature of things that when winter comes there shall be no snow.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

They seem little more than a summer day and a winter evening.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

But as they grew shorter and White Fang's second winter in the Southland came on, he made a strange discovery.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

But if he returns no more this winter, my choice will never be required.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)