ˈsnow-bird
Also snow bird, snowbird.
[f. snow n.1 Cf. Du. sneeuwvogel, G. schneevogel.]
1. One or other of various small European or American birds, esp. the snow-bunting (Plectrophanes nivalis), snow-finch (Montifringilla nivalis), or snow-sparrow (Junco hiemalis).
In the first group of quotations there is some indication of the precise bird intended.
| (a) 1688 Phil. Trans. XVII. 996 The Snow-bird which I take to be much the same with our Hedge Sparrow; this is so called because it seldom appears about Houses but against Snow or very cold Weather. 1709 J. Lawson Hist. Carolina 146 The Snow-Birds are most numerous in the North Parts of America, where there are great Snows... They are like the Stones Smach, or Wheat-Ears. 1750 G. Edwards Nat. Hist. Birds III. Pl. 126 The Snow-Bird from Hudson's-Bay. This Bird..agrees exactly in Size and Shape with our great Pyed Mountain-Finch, or Brambling. 1771 J. R. Forster tr. Kalm's Trav. II. 81 The Swedes call a species of little birds, Snofogel, and the English call it Snow-bird. 1802 Montagu Ornith. s.v. Bunting, Snow, Snow-bird. Snow-flake. 1810 A. Wilson Amer. Ornith. II. 129 Snow-Bird, Fringilla nivalis. Ibid. 131 The Snow-bird is six inches long, and nine in extent. 1839 Audubon Syn. Birds N. Amer. 106 Niphæa, Snow-Bird. Ibid. 107 Niphæa Oregona, Oregon Snow-Bird. 1853 Kane Grinnell Exped. xli. (1856) 379 Crowds of little snow-birds (Emberiza and Plectrophanes), with white breasts and jetty coverts. 1884 Coues N. Amer. Birds 377 Junco, Snow Sparrows. Snow-birds. Ibid., Junco hiemalis,..Eastern Snow-bird. Black Snow-bird. |
| (b) 1798 Miss H. M. Williams Tour Switzerland II. App. 293 Her sledgy-car..O'er the pellucid ice her snow⁓birds drew. 1820 Scoresby Acc. Arctic Regions I. 535 The snow-bird, though so delicate in its appearance, is almost as ravenous as the fulmar. 1841 Bryant Poems, Winter-Piece 30 The snow-bird twitter'd on the beechen bough. 1880 W. Newton Serm. for Boys (1881) 358 The little snow-birds seem to enjoy it all. 1883 Cent. Mag. Sept. 681 From the first nest..to the last, which was that of a snow-bird. |
2. The ivory gull,
Pagophila eburnea.
| 1831 Rennie Montagu's Ornith. Dict. 470 Snow Bird, (Larus eburneus). 1843 Yarrell Brit. Birds III. 449 Larus candidus, The Snow-bird. |
3. U.S. slang. One who sniffs cocaine (
cf. snow n.1 5 d);
gen. a drug addict.
| 1914 Jackson & Hellyer Vocab. Criminal Slang 78 A ‘snowbird’ is the customary designation of the cocaine habitue. 1923 [see loaded ppl. a. 3 b]. 1952 Sunday Times 3 Feb. 5/4 Present-day New York is not..a city overrun by ‘snowbirds’ jabbing needles into their arms. 1963 ‘M. Corrigan’ Why do Women—? xxiii. 175 Don't tell me you never heard that name for a dope addict—a snowbird. |
4. U.S. slang. a. (See
quots.)
| 1905 N.Y. Even. Post 20 Nov. 6, 28 per cent. deserted after three months, and were presumably ‘snow-birds’, that is, men who enlist to get food and clothing during the winter months. 1918 Sat. Even. Post 23 Nov. 11/1 They belonged to a shiftless class, the members of which often enlist in the army late in the fall because they want a job for the winter—the boys call them snowbirds. 1930 W. H. Waldron Old Sergeant's Conferences vii. 123 A ‘Snow bird’ is a deserter who surrenders in the fall to get a place to stay through the winter. |
b. (See
quot. 1924.)
| 1923 Nation 31 Oct. 487 In winter, when building is at a standstill in the North, northern workmen, ‘snow birds’ or ‘white doves’ in Negro parlance, flock south. 1924 ‘Digit’ Confessions 20th Century Hobo 12 Snowbird, in the Southern States a Northerner who migrates south to avoid the winter. 1962 Economist 22 Dec. 1206/1 The Negro, who regularly loses his job to the ‘snowbirds’ from New York in the winter holiday season. 1979 United States 1980/81 (Penguin Travel Guides) 243 This figure swells..during the winter months when ‘snowbirds’ arrive. (‘Snowbird’ is a tricky term as used in Miami, it refers primarily to tourists escaping the Northeastern freeze.) |
5. colloq. A person who likes snow; a snow-sports enthusiast.
| 1928 D. H. Lawrence Let. in F. Lawrence Not I (1934) 269, I am no snow-bird, I hate the stark and shroudy whitemen, white and black. 1973 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 8 Dec. 43/8 No joy yet for snowbirds. Snow enthusiasts will have to wait at least one more week before they can start up their snow-mobile engines or put on their skis. |