Wiktionary

snow

See also: Snow and snów

English

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Snow-covered road in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
 
Snow-covered trees in the Pierian Mountains, Greece.
 
Snow in Victoria, Australia, at about 350 meters elevation. Outside certain mountainous regions, snow is rare in Australia.

Etymology 1

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From Middle English snow, snaw, from Old English snāw (“snow”), from Proto-West Germanic *snaiw, from Proto-Germanic *snaiwaz (“snow”), from Proto-Indo-European *snóygʷʰos (“snow”), from the root *sneygʷʰ-.

Cognate with Scots snaw (“snow”), West Frisian snie (“snow”), Dutch sneeuw (“snow”), German Schnee (“snow”), Danish sne (“snow”), Norwegian snø (“snow”), Swedish snö (“snow”), Icelandic snjór (“snow”), Latin nix (“snow”), Russian снег (sneg), Ancient Greek νίφα (nípha), dialectal Albanian nehë (“place where the snow melts”), Sanskrit स्नेह (snéha, “oil, grease”).

The extended senses all trace back to the appearance of the weather phenomenon.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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snow (countable and uncountable, plural snows)

  1. (uncountable) The frozen, crystalline state of water that falls as precipitation.
  2. (uncountable) Any similar frozen form of a gas or liquid.
    • 2008, Neal Asher, Alien Archaeology:
      Clad in a coldsuit Jael trudged through a thin layer of CO2 snow ...
  3. (countable) A snowfall; a blanket of frozen, crystalline water.
    We have had several heavy snows this year.
  4. (uncountable) A shade of the color white.
    snow:  
  6. (uncountable) The moving pattern of random dots displayed on a television, etc., when no transmission signal is being received.
    Synonym: shash
    Near-synonym: static
  7. (uncountable, slang) Cocaine.
    Synonyms: blow; see also Thesaurus:cocaine
  8. Marine snow.
    • 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.
  9. (informal, in the plural) Clipping of snow tires.
    better be wearing your snows next week
    • 1984 April 7, “Classified advertisement”, in Gay Community News, page 15:
      74 VW dyke mobile, 75K miles. Immac in/out & great to drive. No rust! Includes roofrack, snows, manual.
Derived terms
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Translations
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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Verb

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Snowing, sense 1

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

  1. (impersonal) To have snow fall from the sky.
    It is snowing.
    It started to snow.
  2. (colloquial) To hoodwink someone, especially by presenting confusing information.
    • 1958, Saul Bellow, Henderson the Rain King:
      Having passed them in review, I concluded that the best thing would be to try to snow him a little, so I said that I had heard many marvelous reports about the Wariri.
  3. (poker) To bluff in draw poker by refusing to draw any cards.[1]
Derived terms
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Translations
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See also

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See also

References

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  1. ^ Brunson, Doyle (1978) Super/System: A course in power poker, B&G Publishing Company

Etymology 2

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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

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snaw

Noun

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snow (plural snows)

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

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Middle English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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Noun

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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

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Descendants

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

References

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Spanish

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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snow m (uncountable)

  1. snowboarding

Derived terms

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Yola

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Noun

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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

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  • 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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