snow
1 Americannoun
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Meteorology. precipitation in the form of ice crystals, mainly of intricately branched, hexagonal form and often agglomerated into snowflakes, formed directly from the freezing of the water vapor in the air.
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these flakes as forming a layer on the ground or other surface.
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the fall of these flakes or a storm during which these flakes fall.
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something resembling a layer of these flakes in whiteness, softness, or the like.
the snow of fresh linen.
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Literary.
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white blossoms.
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the white color of snow.
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Slang. cocaine or heroin.
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Informal. Usually snows snow tires.
Most people up here keep their snows on through the end of April.
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white spots or bands on a television screen caused by a weak signal.
verb (used without object)
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to send down snow; fall as snow.
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to descend like snow.
verb (used with object)
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to let fall as or like snow.
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Slang.
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to make an overwhelming impression on.
The view really snowed them.
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to persuade or deceive.
She was snowed into believing everything.
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verb phrase
noun
noun
noun
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precipitation from clouds in the form of flakes of ice crystals formed in the upper atmosphere
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a layer of snowflakes on the ground
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a fall of such precipitation
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anything resembling snow in whiteness, softness, etc
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the random pattern of white spots on a television or radar screen, produced by noise in the receiver and occurring when the signal is weak or absent
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slang cocaine
verb
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(intr; with it as subject) to be the case that snow is falling
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(tr; usually passive, foll by over, under, in, or up) to cover or confine with a heavy fall of snow
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to fall or cause to fall as or like snow
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slang (tr) to deceive or overwhelm with elaborate often insincere talk See snow job
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to be overwhelmed, esp with paperwork
Other Word Forms
- snowless adjective
- snowlike adjective
Etymology
Origin of snow1
First recorded before 900; Middle English noun snou(e), Old English snāw; cognate with Dutch sneeuw, German Schnee, Old Norse snǣr, Gothic snaiws, Latin nix (genitive nivis ), Greek níps (accusative nípha ), Old Church Slavonic sněgŭ; verb derivative of the noun
Origin of Snow2
First recorded in 1665–75
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Her early dispatches included photos of a handwritten thank you note from a child, a long-haired dachshund on a walk and snow falling on a corner store.
We’ve cleared the postcard phase of winter — the fat twinkle lights, the bow-strapped storefronts, the flattering first snow — but spring has not yet agreed to show up.
From Salon
Two stonemasons have won a snow sculpting prize as part of Team GB's entry to the World Snow Festival in Switzerland.
From BBC
“Tonight, I think it’s pretty clear that Chuck is neglecting both the resort and the community,” he said, as snow fell outside.
“I dread the snow,” a friend recently told me, because the cold temperatures mean they’ll have to turn up the heat for weeks, meaning a surge in their heating bill.
From MarketWatch
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
