hibernate
English
Etymology
From Latin hībernātus, from hībernāre, from hībernus (“winter”).
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /ˈhaɪbə(r)ˌneɪt/
- (Southern England) IPA(key): [ˈhɑɪbəˌnɛɪt]
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈhaɪbəɹˌneɪt/, [ˈhäɪbɚˌneɪt]
- (Canada, idle-idol split) IPA(key): /ˈhʌɪbərˌneɪt/
- (Ontario) IPA(key): [ˈhəɪbɚˌne(ɪ)t]
Audio (Southern England) (file)
Verb
hibernate (third-person singular simple present hibernates, present participle hibernating, simple past and past participle hibernated)
- (intransitive, biology) To spend the winter in a dormant or inactive state of minimal activity, low body temperature, slow breathing and heart rate, and low metabolic rate; to go through a winter sleep.
- Coordinate term: estivate
- Hedgehogs and bears are two of the many mammals that hibernate in winter.
- 2014, Elizabeth Kolbert, chapter 8, in The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, Henry Holt and Company:
- Organisms have developed all sorts of ways of dealing with these variations. They hibernate or estivate or migrate.
- (intransitive) To live in seclusion.
- (intransitive, computing) To enter a standby state which conserves power without losing the contents of memory.
- 2001, Microsoft Corp, Use Hibernate and Standby to Conserve Batteries:
- Your computer hibernates after it has been idle for the specified amount of time.
Related terms
Translations
spend winter time in a dormant or inactive state
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live in seclusion
See also
Anagrams
Latin
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