midwinter
(mɪdˈwɪntə(r))
[f. mid a. + winter. In OE. found both as compound and as two words with inflexion of the adj. Cf. OFris. midwinter, MDu., MLG. mid-, middewinter, MHG. mittewinter (mod.G. mittwinter), ON. miðr vetr, Sw. midvinter.]
The middle of winter; spec. the winter solstice, Dec. 21st, or the period about that time. Also formerly applied to Christmas.
| a 900 O.E. Chron. an. 827 Her mona aþistrode on middes wintres mæsse niht. c 1000 Sax. Leechd. III. 164 ᵹif seo midwinter bið on wodnesdæᵹ þonne bið heard winter. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 55 We auen forgult ure saules wille siðe mid winter com hiderwardes and ouercumen it. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 7160 He sende after is barony at midewinter mid him to be. ? a 1400 Morte Arth. 77 Whas neuer syche noblay, in no manys tyme, Mad in mydwynter in tha weste marchys! 1590 Greenwood Answ. Def. Read Prayers 25 You compel men to pray against thunder and lightning at midd winter. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. i. 319 Nor cease your sowing till Mid-winter ends. 1882 A. W. Ward Dickens iii. 49 A journey across the Atlantic in midwinter is no child's-play even at the present day. |
b. attrib. and
Comb., as
midwinter month,
midwinter morning,
midwinter snow, etc.;
† midwinter('s) day, Christmas Day;
† midwinter('s) eve,
even,
night, Christmas eve;
† midwinter('s) tide, Christmas time.
| 1154 O.E. Chron. an. 1135, & halechede him to kinge on *mide-wintre-daei. c 1205 Lay. 22905 A midewinteres dæi. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) V. 19 Me schulde synge þre masses wiþ Gloria in excelsis a mydwynter day [orig. in festo Natalis Domini]. 1867 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1877) I. iii. 71 On Midwinter-day, eight hundred years back. |
| 1300–1400 R. Gloucester's Chron. (Rolls) App. XX. 141 In þe þridde ȝere of his crouning A *midewinteres eue to bedeforde he com. |
| c 1420 Chron. Vilod. 4081 Gerleyne was þat monnus name y-wys Þe whiche in *midwintrus-ȝevyn to þat chirche dude gone. |
| 1814 Wordsw. Excurs. v. 804 Three dark *midwinter months. |
| 1896 Atlantic Monthly Feb. 203 How well the rapture of that frosty *midwinter morning is remembered. |
| c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 7 Swo abiden ure helendes tocume þat neihlacheð nuðe fram dai to daie and beð on *mide⁓wintres niht. a 1450 Myrc Festial 51 Þys geanology þat ys red yn mydwyntyr-nyght. |
| 1877 Bryant Sella 63 Two slippers, white As the *midwinter snow. |
| c 1030 Eccl. Laws of Cnut Prol., On ðære halᵹan *midewintres tide. c 1330 Amis & Amil. 1887 It was mid winter tide. |
c. quasi-adj. (
fig.), cold as midwinter.
| 1870 Morris Earthly Par. III. iv. 29 Because youth and maid Midwinter words of hope that day had said Before the altars. 1884 Tennyson Becket i. ii, 'Tis known you are midwinter to all women. |