snowy, a. and n.
(ˈsnəʊɪ)
Forms: α. 1 snawiᵹ, 3 snawi, 5, Sc. 8– snawy, 8 snawie. β. 6–7 snowie, snowey, 6– snowy.
[f. snow n.1 Cf. Fris. snieich, MDu. sneeich, sneeuwich (Du. sneeuwig), OS. snêgig (MLG. snêyg, snyig), MHG. schnêig (G. schneeig), Sw. snöig, snögig.]
A. adj.
1. Of weather, time, etc.: Characterized by the presence or prevalence of snow.
| c 1000 Saxon Leechd. III. 274 Se feorða heafod wind..blæwð norðan cealde & snawlic [v.r. snawiᵹ]. 1600 Pory tr. Leo's Africa ix. 333 It ouerfloweth not but in rainie and snowie weather. 1635 Swan Spec. M. v. §2 (1643) 155 Your experienced husbandman desireth that the winter may be cold and snowie. 1660 Boyle New Exp. Phys. Mech. xviii. 133 It was a Snowy day. 1701 O. Heywood Diaries (1885) IV. 175 This is a snowy morning. 1748 T. Smith Jrnl. (1849) 270 A cold, snowy, uncomfortable month. 1800 Campbell Ode to Winter 53 Milder yet thy snowy breezes Pour on yonder tented shores. 1830 Carlyle Misc. (1857) II. 143 Let the weather be sunny or snowy. 1884 E. P. Roe Nat. Ser. Story vii, The snowiest day of winter. |
2. Composed of melted snow; consisting, formed, or made of snow.
| α a 1240 Sawles Warde in O.E. Hom. I. 251 Þer is..toðes hechelunge iþe snawi weattres. 1483 Cath. Angl. 346/2 Snawy, niueus. 1785 Burns Addr. to Deil xii, When thowes dissolve the snawy hoord. |
| β 1565 Cooper Thesaurus, Niueus liquor, snowy water. 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 862 The lower Mountaines..haue more Giantly ouer-lookers, with Snowie lockes and Cloudie lookes. 1730 Bailey (fol.), Sleetiness,..snowy Rain. 1754 Gray Pleasure 26 The sullen year Saw the snowy whirlwind fly. 1784 Cowper Task v. 98 On the flood, Indurated and fixt, the snowy weight Lies undissolv'd. 1818 Byron Ch. Har. iv. clxxxi, As the snowy flake, They melt. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. xii. 90 The Glacier..thrust through the black pines its snowy tongue. |
3. a. Covered with snow; abounding in snow.
| 1548 Elyot, Niualia loca, snowy places. 1592 Soliman & Pers. iv. i. 83 Neck, whiter then the snowie Apenines. 1617 Moryson Itin. i. 98 We continually did see the snowy toppes of those Mountaines. 1638 R. Brathwait Barnabees Jrnl. iii. (1818) 137 Thence to Ayscarth, from a mountaine..cliffs steep and snowy..saw I. a 1700 Evelyn Diary 2 Nov. 1644, Monte Mantuamiato..peeping above any clowds with its snowy head. 1784 Cowper Task v. 7 His slanting ray Slides ineffectual down the snowy vale. 1847 Tennyson Princ. iv. 2 The splendour falls on castle walls And snowy summits old in story. 1871 L. Stephen Playgr. Eur. ii. (1894) 49 The snowy ranges of California..seem to be unpleasantly bare and chill. |
| transf. 1648 J. Beaumont Psyche xiii. xlv, That fire of leacherous rage Which burnt ev'n in their cold and snowy age. |
b. Of the picture on a television screen: affected with snow (
snow n.1 5 f).
| 1959 Levy & Frankel Television Servicing xiv. 442 The picture may become weak and snowy. 1976 H. Kemelman Wednesday Rabbi got Wet xxiii. 73 She turned the set on... There was a lot of static, and the picture wavered and became snowy. |
4. a. Of or resembling the pure white colour of snow; snow-white, niveous.
| 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. x. 48 That godly aged Sire, With snowy lockes. Ibid. iii. i. 38 Which staines his snowy skin with hatefull hew. 1592 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. i. v. 50 So shewes a Snowy Doue trooping with Crowes. 1662 J. Davies tr. Olearius' Voy. Amb. 16 Many antient Men, venerable for their long snowy beards. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 594 Ev'n though a snowy Ram thou shalt behold. 1725 Pope Odyss. xxiv. 93 We then collect thy snowy bones. 1786 Burns To Mountain Daisy v, Thy snawie bosom sun-ward spread. 1833 L. Ritchie Wand. by Loire 21 Towering caps of the snowiest muslin, enriched with lace. 1882 Garden 9 Sept. 224/3 A charming little plant..with dense tufts of snowy blooms. |
| transf. 1646 Bp. Hall Poems 95 There did he loose his snowy Innocence. |
b. Used to qualify
white or
whiteness.
| 1785 Pennant Arct. Zool. II. 549 Of a snowy whiteness. 1791 Cowper Yardley Oak 128 A splinter'd stump bleach'd to a snowy white. 1838 Dickens Nich. Nick. l, Stained rotten canvas looked a snowy white. 1859 Jephson Brittany v. 50 That snowy whiteness which I so much admired in the Breton caps. 1883 Longman's Mag. July 308 Some Alpine buttercups are snowy-white. |
5. a. In the specific names of birds or animals (see
quots.).
| 1829 Griffith tr. Cuvier VIII. 557 *Snowy Auk, Mormon Glacialis. |
| 1895 Funk's Stand. Dict., *Snowy egret or heron, an entirely white egret (Ardea candidissima) ranging from New York to Chile. |
| 1829 Griffith tr. Cuvier VI. 44 *Snowy Falcon, Falco niveus. |
| 1827 Ibid. V. 265 Lepus Glacialis (*Snowy Hare). |
| 1785 Latham Gen. Synop. Birds III. i. 92 *Snowy Heron, Ardea nivea. 1813 A. Wilson Amer. Ornith. VII. 120 Snowy Heron, Ardea candidissima. The Snowy Heron seems particularly fond of the salt marshes during summer. 1872 Coues N. Amer. Birds 267 Little White Egret. Snowy Heron... Plumage always entirely white. 1885 *Snowy lemming [see lemming 2]. |
| 1781 Latham Gen. Synop. Birds I. i. 132 *Snowy Owl... The whole plumage is white as snow. 1876 Nature XIV. 562/1 The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens..include..two Snowy Owls (Nyctea nivea). 1895 Lydekker Roy. Nat. Hist. IV. 162 The great snowy owl (Nyctea scandiaca) cannot be confounded with any other member of the order, being the only representative of its genus. |
| 1777 Forster Voy. round World I. 96 Its colour induced us to call it the *snowy-petrel. 1895 Lydekker Roy. Nat. Hist. IV. 525 The snowy petrel (Pagodroma nivea). |
| 1872 Coues N. Amer. Birds 245 *Snowy Plover..; several lateral tail feathers entirely white. 1891 Cent. Dict. s.v., Snowy plover, ægialites nivosus, a small ring-plover of the Pacific and Mexican Gulf coasts of the United States. |
b. In names of flowers, etc.
| 1822 Hortus Anglicus II. 392 Tussilago Nivea. Snowy Colt's-foot. 1889 R. A. R. Bennett Marine Aquaria viii. 71 Snowy Anemone,..Sagartia nivea. 1901 Gardener 12 Jan. 1047/3 In cultivation the Snowy Crowfoot [Ranunculus amplexicaulis] generally blooms in April or May. |
c. snowy pear, the snow-pear (see
snow n.1 9 d).
| 1884 De Candolle's Orig. Cultivated Pl. 233 The snowy pears cultivated in France to make the drink called perry have become wild in the woods here and there. |
6. Comb., as
snowy-banded,
snowy-bosomed, etc.
| a 1618 Sylvester Cup of Consolation 10 Wks. (Grosart) II. 263 Where Snow-winged Victory doth wun. 1648 J. Beaumont Psyche iii. cxviii, Pure and snowy-countnanc'd Linen. 1717 Rowe Ode for New Year ii, Snowy-headed Winter leads. 1744 Akenside Pleas. Imag. iii. 434 On the brink of Ganges waits The snowy-vested seer. 1760 Fawkes tr. Anacreon, Ode v. 19 With snowy-bosomed Sappho gay. 1830 Howitt Bk. Seasons (1837) 145 The verdurous, snowy-flowered elder. 1836–48 B. D. Walsh Aristoph., Clouds i. iii, Mimas's snowy-capped summit. 1855 Tennyson Maud i. viii, I heard no longer The snowy-banded..priest intone. 1889 Doyle M. Clarke 227 A great herd of snowy-fleeced sheep. |
B. n. a. slang. Linen.
b. The snowy owl.
| 1877 J. W. Horsley Jottings fr. Jail 6 We used to go and smug snowy (steal linen) that was hung out to dry. 1904 P. Fountain Great North-West xiii. 144 If these are European snowies, the North-West Territory bird is probably a distinct variety. Ibid., The snowy made the feathers fly. |
Hence
ˈsnowyish a., somewhat snowy.
| 1821 Blackw. Mag. X. 570 It is..rawish—coldish—icyish—snowyish. |