winter

• Winter

From Middle English winter, from Old English winter, from Proto-Germanic *wintruz (“winter”). Cognate with West Frisian winter (“winter”), Dutch winter (“winter”), German Winter (“winter”), Danish, Swedish and Norwegian vinter (“winter”), Icelandic vetur (“winter”).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈwɪntə/
• (General American, Canada) enPR: wĭnʹtər, IPA^(key): /ˈwɪntəɹ/, [ˈwɪɾ̃əɹ], [ˈwɪntʰəɹ], [ˈwɪnəɹ]

• Audio (GA, IPA(key): [ˈwɪntʰɚ])

  (file)

• Audio (Canada, rare, IPA(key): [ˈwɪnɚ]

  (file)

• Homophone: winner (US, Canada, some dialects)
• Rhymes: -ɪntə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: win‧ter

winter (countable and uncountable, plural winters)

Winter in Austria

1. Traditionally the fourth of the four seasons, typically regarded as being from December to February in continental regions of the Northern Hemisphere or the months of June, July, and August in the Southern Hemisphere. It is the time when the sun is lowest in the sky, resulting in short days, and the time of year with the lowest atmospheric temperatures for the region.
   • a1420, The British Museum Additional MS, 12,056, “Wounds complicated by the Dislocation of a Bone”, in Robert von Fleischhacker, editor, Lanfranc's "Science of cirurgie."‎, London: K. Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co, translation of original by Lanfranc of Milan, published 1894, →ISBN, page 63:

     Ne take noon hede to brynge togidere þe parties of þe boon þat is to-broken or dislocate, til viij. daies ben goon in þe wyntir, & v. in þe somer; for þanne it schal make quytture, and be sikir from swellynge; & þanne brynge togidere þe brynkis eiþer þe disiuncture after þe techynge þat schal be seid in þe chapitle of algebra.

   • 1592, Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 1:

     And after summer evermore succeeds
     Barren winter, with his wrathful nipping cold.

   • 1650, Thomas Browne, “Of the Cameleon”, in Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], →OCLC, 3rd book, page 133:

     It cannot be denied it [the chameleon] is (if not the moſt of any) a very abſtemious animall, and ſuch as by reaſon of its frigidity, paucity of bloud, and latitancy in the winter (about which time the obſervations are often made) will long ſubſist without a viſible ſuſtentation.

   • 1785, William Cowper, “Tirocinium: or, A Review of Schools." in The Poems of William Cowper, Vol. II., The Press of C. Whittingham (1822), page 174:

     There shall he learn, ere sixteen winters old,
     That [...]

   • 1897, William Morris, The Water of the Wondrous Isles, volume I, Longmans, Green and Co., published 1914, page 2:

     […] a woman, tall, and strong of aspect, of some thirty winters by seeming, [...]

2. (figuratively, poetic) The period of decay, old age, death, or the like.
   • 1814, William Wordsworth, The Excursion:

     Life's autumn past, I stand on winter's verge.

   • 2023, Ben Armstrong, Catching Up to Crypto, page 78:

     Buterin seemed to sense that the market was out of balance, and he made a smart decision that helped Ethereum weather the crypto winter and continue to build while the market was down.

3. (countable, fashion) Someone with dark skin, eyes and hair, seen as best suited to certain colors of clothing.
4. (obsolete) An appliance to be fixed on the front of a grate, to keep a kettle warm, etc.
5. (India, archaic) The rainy season.
   • 1584, Barret, in Hakl. ii. 413

     Note that the Citie of Goa is the principall place of all the Oriental India, and the winter thus beginneth the 15 of May, with very great raine.

   • 1610, Finch, in Purchas, i. 423

     The Winter heere beginneth about the first of Iune and dureth till the twentieth of September, but not with continuall raines as at Goa, but for some sixe or seuen dayes every change and full, with much wind, thunder and raine.

   • 1678, Fryer, 410

     In Winter (when they rarely stir) they have a Mumjama, or Wax Cloth to throw over it […]

   • 1770,—Raynal, tr. 1777, i. 34

     The mere breadth of these mountains divides summer from winter, that is to say, the season of fine weather from the rainy […] all that is meant by winter in India is the time of the year when the clouds […] are driven violently by the winds against the mountains, […]

Note that season names are not capitalized in modern English except where any noun would be capitalized, e.g. at the beginning of a sentence or as part of a name (Old Man Winter, the Winter War, Summer Glau). This is in contrast to the days of the week and months of the year, which are always capitalized (Thursday or September).

winter (third-person singular simple present winters, present participle wintering, simple past and past participle wintered)

1. (intransitive) To spend the winter (in a particular place).

   When they retired, they hoped to winter in Florida.

   • 2022 December 27, “Ukraine war: Five ways conflict could go in 2023”, in BBC News‎:

     Those who seek to invade another country anywhere across the great Eurasian steppes are condemned eventually to winter in it.

2. (transitive) To store something (for instance animals) somewhere over winter to protect it from cold.

• overwinter
• Wintered Over Device
• winterer
• wintering

• Trewin, twiner

From Dutch winter, from Middle Dutch winter, from Old Dutch winter, from Proto-Germanic *wintruz.

• IPA^(key): /ˈvən.tər/

• Audio

  (file)

winter (plural winters)

1. winter

• wenter, wénter

From Middle High German winter, from Old High German wintar, from Proto-Germanic *wintruz. Cognate with German Winter, Dutch winter, English winter, Swedish vinter.

winter m

1. (Issime, Carcoforo) winter

• Patuzzi, Umberto, ed., (2013) Luserna / Lusérn: Le nostre parole / Ünsarne börtar / Unsere Wörter [Our Words], Luserna, Italy: Comitato unitario delle isole linguistiche storiche germaniche in Italia / Einheitskomitee der historischen deutschen Sprachinseln in Italien

From Middle Dutch winter, from Old Dutch winter, from Proto-Germanic *wintruz.

• audio

  (file)

• IPA^(key): /ˈʋɪn.tər/
• Hyphenation: win‧ter
• Rhymes: -ɪntər

winter m (plural winters, diminutive wintertje n)

1. winter

   De winter van dat jaar was bijzonder koud. ― The winter of that year was exceptionally cold.

   Kinderen speelden in de sneeuw tijdens de winter. ― Children played in the snow during the winter.

   Het wintertje was mild en aangenaam. ― The short winter was mild and pleasant.

• Afrikaans: winter
• Negerhollands: winter
• → Sranan Tongo: wenter

From Old Dutch winter, from Proto-Germanic *wintruz.

winter m

1. winter

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

• wintersch
• middewinter
• wintercoude
• winterdach

• Dutch: winter
  • Afrikaans: winter
  • Negerhollands: winter
  • → Sranan Tongo: wenter
• Limburgish: wintjer

• “winter”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• Verwijs, E., Verdam, J. (1885–1929) “winter”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN

• wintere, wintre, wynter

From Old English winter, from Proto-West Germanic *wintru, from Proto-Germanic *wintruz.

• IPA^(key): /ˈwintər/

winter (plural wintres)

1. winter
   • p. 1154, “AD 1137”, in Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (MS. Laud Misc. 636, continuation), Peterborough, folio 89, verso; republished at Oxford: Digital Bodleian, 2018 February 8:

     ⁊ ð laſtede þa ·xix· ƿintre ƿile Stephne ƿaſ king ⁊ æure it ƿaſ uuerſe ⁊ uuerſe.

     And this lasted the 19 winters when Stephen was king, and it continually got worse and worse.

• English: winter
• Scots: winter
• Yola: wonter

• “winter, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

From Proto-Germanic *wintruz.

winter m

1. winter

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

• Middle Dutch: winter
  • Dutch: winter
    • Afrikaans: winter
    • Negerhollands: winter
    • → Sranan Tongo: wenter
  • Limburgish: wintjer

• “winter”, in Oudnederlands Woordenboek, 2012

From earlier *wintr < *wintru, from Proto-Germanic *wintruz. Cognate with Old Frisian winter, Old Saxon wintar, Old Dutch winter, Old High German wintar, Old Norse vetr, Gothic 𐍅𐌹𐌽𐍄𐍂𐌿𐍃 (wintrus).

• IPA^(key): /ˈwin.ter/

winter m

1. winter
2. year
   • The Dialogues of Solomon and Saturn

     Ic ðē secge lxxx wintra of ðām trēowcynne ðe is nemned Sem.

     I tell thee, eighty years, of the wood that is called Sem

• midwinter
• winterlǣċan
• winterlīċ
• -wintre
• wintres dæġ
• wintriġ

• Middle English: winter, wintere, wintre, wynter
  • English: winter
  • Scots: winter
  • Yola: wonter

From Middle English winter, from Old English winter, from Proto-Germanic *wintruz.

winter (plural winters)

1. winter

From Old Frisian winter, from Proto-Germanic *wintruz.

• IPA^(key): /ˈvɪntər/

winter c (plural winters, diminutive winterke)

1. winter

• wintermoanne

• “winter”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011