winter
Pluralwinters
Verbwinters, wintering, wintered
Pluralwinters
Formswinters, wintering, wintered
- 1The fourth and coldest season of the year, with the shortest days, usually reckoned as December–February in the north and June–August in the south, or as running from the winter solstice to the spring equinox.
The town's population shrinks every winter as residents flee the cold.
By late winter, the reservoir had frozen solid near its edges.
UsageSay in winter or in the winter, but last winter, next winter with no in (not
incorrect: in last winter).Oppositesummer
Note
The plural once served as a measure of age. William Cowper writes in 1785 of a boy "ere sixteen winters old," and counting years in winters still gives a line a deliberate, literary weight.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- The plural winters was used to express age in years. ccel.org
- William Cowper wrote the quoted words about a boy in Tirocinium. ccel.org
- The quoted poem was first published in 1785, in the volume containing The Task. eighteenthcenturypoetry.org
- 2To pass the winter living or staying in a particular place.
Thousands of geese winter along the estuary before heading north again.
The retired couple chose to winter in Arizona to escape the snow.
UsageFollowed by a place: geese winter in the south, winter along the coast.
Similaroverwinter
Oppositesummer
Note
Military history gives it a grim edge. The BBC wrote in 2022 that invaders of the Eurasian steppes are "condemned eventually to winter in it."
- 3To keep animals or plants in a sheltered place through the winter to protect them from the cold.
Growers often winter delicate plants indoors to shield them from frost.
She winters the tender shrubs in a greenhouse until spring.
UsageAlso overwinter: winter plants indoors or in a greenhouse.
Similaroverwinter, shelter
Less common meanings
- 4A time of decay, old age, or death, especially as the closing stage of a life or era.
The aging emperor felt the winter of his reign drawing near.
Their friendship had entered its winter, cold and slowly fading.
UsageUsually the winter of someone's life or years.
Similartwilight, decline, dusk
Note
The seasons mapped onto a life. In The Excursion (1814), Wordsworth writes "Life's autumn past, I stand on winter's verge." The figure has since moved well beyond poetry. Business writing now speaks of a "crypto winter," a long market slump, as in Ben Armstrong's Catching Up to Crypto (2023). There the stress falls on dormancy and endurance, something to weather and come through, rather than on death.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts
- William Wordsworth's The Excursion was first published in 1814. en.wikisource.org
- The quoted line occurs in The Excursion; the speaker is the Wanderer. The note correctly identifies Wordsworth as its writer. en.wikisource.org
- Ben Armstrong wrote Catching Up to Crypto, whose first edition was published in 2023. wiley-vch.de
- Armstrong uses "crypto winter" for a period of dormancy through which development continues, supporting the note's interpretation. mypescpe.com
- 5The rainy season of the year.
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.
1584, Barret, in Hakl. ii. 413Note
European writers on India carried the word over from colder climates and fitted it to the monsoon. Barret wrote in 1584 that winter at Goa "beginneth the 15 of May, with very great raine." Raynal, translated in 1776, explains that in India winter means simply the rainy season, set against a summer of fine weather. In older accounts of India, read winter as the wet months, not the cold ones.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- A passage attributed to Barret and dated 1584 says that winter at Goa begins on 15 May with heavy rain, using the quoted wording. en.wikisource.org
- Raynal explains winter in India as the rainy season, contrasted with summer's fine weather. en.wikisource.org
- Older accounts of India use winter to mean the rainy season. en.wikisource.org
- 6A device fixed to the front of a fireplace grate to keep a kettle or similar vessel warm.
Note
A piece of fireside equipment whose name now survives only on the page. Because the word is obsolete, readers mostly meet it in older household writing. There, "the winter" on or at the grate means a fitting for keeping a kettle warm, not the time of year. The mention of the fire and the kettle is the clue.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 1 fact
- Winter denotes a fitting attached to a fireplace grate for keeping a kettle warm. en.wiktionary.org
- 7In seasonal color analysis, a person with cool, high-contrast coloring, typically dark hair and eyes, regarded as best suited to clear, cool, bold colors.
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Origin
From Middle English "winter," from Old English "winter," going back through Proto-West Germanic *wintru to Proto-Germanic *wintruz ("winter"). It is related to Dutch "winter," German "Winter," the Scandinavian "vinter," and Icelandic "vetur."
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- English winter descends through Middle English and Old English winter from Proto-West Germanic *wintru and Proto-Germanic *wintruz, meaning winter. en.wiktionary.org
- Winter is cognate with Dutch winter, German Winter, Scandinavian vinter, and Icelandic vetur. en.wiktionary.org