Meteorology. a 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.Compare ice crystals, snow grains, snow pellets.
these flakes as forming a layer on the ground or other surface.
the fall of these flakes or a storm during which these flakes fall.
something resembling a layer of these flakes in whiteness, softness, or the like: the snow of fresh linen.
Literary.
white blossoms.
the white color of snow.
Slang. cocaine or heroin.
white spots or bands on a television screen caused by a weak signal.Compare hash1(def 5).
verb (used without object)
to send down snow; fall as snow.
to descend like snow.
verb (used with object)
to let fall as or like snow.
Slang.
to make an overwhelming impression on: The view really snowed them.
to persuade or deceive: She was snowed into believing everything.
Verb Phrases
snow under,
to cover with or bury in snow.
to overwhelm with a larger amount of something than can be conveniently dealt with.
to defeat overwhelmingly.
Origin of snow
before 900; (noun) Middle English;Old Englishsnāw; cognate with Dutchsneeuw,GermanSchnee,Old Norsesnǣr,Gothicsnaiws,Latinnix (genitive nivis), Greekníps (accusative nípha), OCS sněgŭ; (v.) Middle Englishsnowen, derivative of the noun; replacing Middle Englishsnewen,Old Englishsnīwan; cognate with Old High Germansnīwan (Germanschneien), Middle Low German,Middle Dutchsnīen
Related formssnow·less, adjectivesnow·like, adjective
Old English snaw "snow, that which falls as snow; a fall of snow; a snowstorm," from Proto-Germanic *snaiwaz (cf. Old Saxon and Old High German sneo, Old Frisian and Middle Low German sne, Middle Dutch snee, Dutch sneeuw, German Schnee, Old Norse snjor, Gothic snaiws "snow"), from PIE root *sniegwh- "snow; to snow" (cf. Greek nipha, Latin nix (genitive nivis), Old Irish snechta, Irish sneachd, Welsh nyf, Lithuanian sniegas, Old Prussian snaygis, Old Church Slavonic snegu, Russian snieg', Slovak sneh "snow"). The cognate in Sanskrit, snihyati, came to mean "he gets wet." As slang for "cocaine" it is attested from 1914.
snow
v.
c.1300, replacing Old English sniwan, which would have yielded modern snew (which existed as a parallel form until 17c. and, in Yorkshire, even later), from the root of snow (n.). Cf. Middle Dutch sneuuwen, Dutch sneeuwen, Old Norse snjova, Swedish snöga.
Also þikke as snow þat snew, Or al so hail þat stormes blew. [Robert Mannyng of Brunne, transl. Wace's "Chronicle," c.1330]
The figurative sense of "overwhelm; surround, cover, and imprison" (as deep snows can do to livestock) is 1880, American English, in phrase to snow (someone) under. Snow job "strong, persistent persuasion in a dubious cause" is World War II armed forces slang, probably from the same metaphoric image.
Precipitation that falls to earth in the form of ice crystals that have complex branched hexagonal patterns. Snow usually falls from stratus and stratocumulus clouds, but it can also fall from cumulus and cumulonimbus clouds.
