snow

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.

• (UK) enPR: snō, IPA^(key): /snəʊ/, [snəʊ̯]
• (US) enPR: snō, IPA^(key): /snoʊ/, [snoʊ̯]

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• Audio (US)

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• Rhymes: -əʊ

snow (countable and uncountable, plural snows)

1. (uncountable) The frozen, crystalline state of water that falls as precipitation.
   • 1928, A. A. Milne, The House at Pooh Corner:

     The wind had dropped, and the snow, tired of rushing around in circles trying to catch itself up, now fluttered gently down until it found a place on which to rest.

   • 2004, George Carlin, When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops?‎, New York: Hyperion Books, →ISBN, →OCLC, →OL, page 261:

     TRUE FACT: On June 8, 1995, Glacier National Park was closed because of too much snow.

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:  

5. (uncountable) The moving pattern of random dots displayed on a television, etc., when no transmission signal is being received.

   Synonym: shash

   Near-synonym: static

6. (uncountable, slang) Cocaine.

   Synonyms: blow; see also Thesaurus:cocaine

   • 1930, Dorothy L. Sayers, Strong Poison:

     Besides, if it wasn't poison, it might be 'snow' or something.

7. 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.

8. (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.

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]

From Low German Snaue, or Dutch snauw, from Low German Snau (“a snout, a beak”). See snout.

A painting of a naval snow by Charles Brooking, from 1759

snaw

snow (plural snows)

1. (nautical, historical) A two-masted, square-rigged vessel, trysail-mast stepped immediately abaft the main mast.
   • 1763, Sir Stephen Janssen, 4th Baronet, Smuggling Laid Open:

     A Snow of 120 Tons, and 48 Men, […] Mounting 12 Carriage Guns, besides Swivels.

• brig

• nows, owns, sow'n, sown, wons

• snaw, snowe, snawe, snowȝ, snoȝ, snogh, snou

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

• (Early ME, Northern ME) IPA^(key): /snɑu̯/
• IPA^(key): /snɔu̯/

snow (plural snowes)

1. snow (frozen water as precipitation, either while falling or once landed)
   • c. 1395, John Wycliffe, John Purvey [et al.], transl., Bible (Wycliffite Bible (later version), MS Lich 10.)‎, published c. 1410, Apocalips 1:14, page 117v; republished as Wycliffe's translation of the New Testament, Lichfield: Bill Endres, 2010:

     ⁊ þe heed of him ⁊ his heeris weren whiyt as whiyt wolle .· ⁊ as ſnow / ⁊ þe iȝen of him as flawme of fier .·

     And his head and his hairs were white, like white wool or snow, and his eyes were like fire's flame.

2. snow-white (a snowy white)
3. The temperature where snow appears.
4. A blanket of snow; a snowing.

• snewen
• snow whit
• snowen
• snowisshe
• snowy

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

• “snou, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-06-14.

• IPA^(key): /esˈno/ [ezˈno]
  • Rhymes: -o
• IPA^(key): /esˈnou/ [ezˈnou̯]
  • Rhymes: -ou

snow m (uncountable)

1. snowboarding

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.

• 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