snow-white, a. and n.
(ˈsnəʊhwaɪt)
Forms: (see snow n.1 and white a.).
[f. snow n.1 Cf. Fris. sniewit, MDu. sne(e)wit (Du. sneeuwwit), MLG. snewit, MHG. snêwîz (G. schneeweiss), ON. snǽ-, snjóhv{iacu}tr (Sw. snöhvit, Da. snehvid).]
A. adj.
1. White as snow; pure white.
| α c 1000 ælfric in Assmann Ags. Hom. iv. 186 Ða ᵹesloh hine sona se snawhwita hreofla. a 1200 St. Marher. 18 The hude snaw hwit swartete as hit snarchte. c 1205 Lay. 24521 Þreo snau-white culueren. a 1225 Leg. Kath. 2443 Heo..strahte forð swiftliche þe snawhwite swire. 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. I. 29 Oxne and Bules snawquhyte with a mane thick. 1791 Burns Tam o' Shanter 154 Snaw-white seventeen hunder linnen! |
| β c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 115 Þe engles þe wið þe apostles stoden mid snouwite shrude. a 1225 Ancr. R. 314 Efter his deaðe, he com one niht.., ine snou hwite cloðes. c 1386 Chaucer Sec. Nun's T. 254 Tuo corunes han we, Snow white and Rose reed, that shynen cleere. 1390 Gower Conf. I. 306 That ther he was snow whyt tofore, Evere afterward colblak therfore He was transformed. c 1450 Godstow Reg. 17 Þat we ben cladde in a snow-whyȝt stole. 1582 Stanyhurst æneis iii. (Arb.) 87 Heere..fowre fayre steeds snow whit I marcked. c 1610 Women Saints 39 She thought she brought forth a snow-white doue. a 1700 Evelyn Diary 14 Feb. 1645, With her statue over it in snow-white marble. 1763 Phil. Trans. LIV. 97 It has a body like a gnat, snow-white. 1807 Thomson Chem. (ed. 3) II. 277 Camphoric acid thus obtained is in snow-white crystals. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. iii. 30 Above all rose the snow-white cone of the Ortler. 1877 Black Green Past. ii, Two snow-white and waxen hyacinths. |
| Comb. 1753 Chambers's Cycl. Suppl. s.v. Linaria, The snow-white flowered creeping toad flax. Ibid. s.v. Plumeria, The snow-white-flowered plumeria, with..pointed leaves. |
b. Clad in robes of pure white.
rare.
| 1847 Emerson Poems, Each & All, Her beauty's best attire Was woven still by the snow-white choir. |
2. In the specific names of fishes, birds, or moths (see
quots.).
| 1804 Shaw Gen. Zool. V. i. 73 Snow-white Salmon. 1809 Ibid. VII. i. 149 Snow-White Falcon. Ibid. 240 Snow-white Owl spotted with black. 1832 J. Rennie Butterfl. & Moths 224 The Snow White Spot (Incurvaria spuria). Ibid. 230 The Snow-white Plume (Pterophorus niveidactylus). |
B. n. a. Pure white.
b. A kind of wool of this colour.
| 1890 Science-Gossip XXVI. 170 The flowers varied in colour from snow-white to green and white flushed with crimson purple. 1896 Daily News 23 Jan. 9/4 Cape and Natal wools meet with good competition, and medium to superior snow-whites..have advanced. |
Hence
snow-whiteness.
| 1856 Ruskin Mod. Paint. IV. v. iii. §24. 53 The authority for using snow-whiteness as a type of purity. |