Definition of "winter" in English

noun

1. Traditionally the fourth of the four seasons, typically regarded as spanning either the period between the winter solstice to the spring equinox, or the months of December, January, and February in temperate and polar regions of the Northern Hemisphere and 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.

   • There shall he learn, ere sixteen winters old, That …

2. (figuratively, poetic) The period of decay, old age, death, or the like.

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.

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

verb

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

   • When they retired, they hoped to winter in Florida.

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