autumnaladj.
/ɔːˈtʌmn(ə)l/, U.S. /ɔˈtəmn(ə)l/, /ɑˈtəmn(ə)l/ 1.
a. Of or relating to autumn; characteristic or reminiscent of autumn; occurring in autumn.
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the world > time > period > year > season > [adjective] > autumnal
autumnal?1440
autumnian1604
autumny1876
serotinal1898
tr. Palladius De re Rustica (Duke Humfrey) (1896) xii. l. 50 Putacioun autumnal [L. putatio autumnalis] celebrate Is now in vynys [emended in ed. to vyne] & tre ther nys no coold.
?1575 R. Eden tr. J. Taisnier Bk. Nauigation sig. C.vii From the Vernal Equinoctial, by the whole Sommer, vntil the equinoctial Autumnal [L. aequinoctium autumnale].
?1594 M. Drayton Peirs Gaueston sig. B4 In the Autumnall season of the yeare.
a1610 J. Healey in tr. Theophrastus Characters To Rdr. sig. I11, in tr. Epictetus Manuall (1636) Posidion was the last Autumnall Moneth in the Attick yeere.
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost i. 302 Thick as Autumnal Leaves that strow the Brooks In Vallombrosa. View more context for this quotation
1762 C. Bisset Ess. Med. Constit. Great Brit. iii. 43 The autumnal fevers are generally most ardent..in youths and young adults.
1768 A. Tucker Light of Nature Pursued II. iii. 122 The simple sheep licks up the autumnal dews.
1815 W. Wordsworth Poems II. 23 How sweet, on this autumnal day, The wild-wood fruits to gather.
1855 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. III. 427 The autumnal rains of Ireland are usually heavy.
1907 Daily Chron. 21 Aug. 4/7 The present sample of autumnal weather in a month that should strictly be August.
1961 J. L. Cloudsley-Thompson & J. Sankey Land Invertebr. x. 101 The little black money-spiders..whose autumnal spinning clothes the countryside in gossamer.
2013 FT Weekend 28 Sept. (Mag.) 46/1 Proper squash is rich, pungent and an autumnal treat.
b. Of a plant or fruit: flowering or maturing in autumn.
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the world > plants > by age or cycles > [adjective] > growing at particular time of year
vernantc1440
autumnal1558
Mayey1601
solstitial1654
vernal1695
1558 F. Withers tr. J. ab Indagine Briefe Introd. Art Chiromancy ii. sig. K.v Let them also refraine from al Autumnal frutes [L. fructibus autumnalibus].
1574 T. Newton tr. G. Gratarolo Direct. Health Magistrates & Studentes 52 Quinces among Autumnal fruictes [L. autumnalibus fructibus] are reckened..bindinge.
1664 J. Evelyn Kalendarium Hortense 73 in Sylva Autumnal Hyacinth, Holly-hoc, Star-wort, Heliotrop, French Mary-gold, Daisies.
a1691 R. Boyle Usefulness of Philos. in Philos. Wks. (1725) I. 223 This way of procuring autumnal roses will, in most rose-bushes commonly fail.
1735 W. Derham in Philos. Trans. 1733–4 (Royal Soc.) 38 340 The autumnal Corn, which had escaped the Worm..began now to flourish.
1786 J. Abercrombie Arrangem. Plants 76 in Gardeners Daily Assistant Serotine, or late flowering, white autumnal narcissus.
1861 A. Pratt Flowering Plants & Ferns Great Brit. V. 273 Autumnal Squill..is a somewhat rare plant.
1924 W. H. Fitch et al. Illustr. Brit. Flora (ed. 5) 146 Leontodon autumnalis L. Autumnal hawkbit; y[ellow].
1972 Marin Mag. in Independent Jrnl. (San Rafael, Calif.) 7 Oct. M4/1 That queen of the autumnal flowering plants, the chrysanthemum, for a generally softer, more subdued kind of color.
2005 C. Wressell Bouquet Roses 93/2 This arrangement of glowing roses and autumnal fruit instantly evokes the rich atmosphere of this bittersweet time of year.
c. Designating any of the colours or shades characteristic of the leaves of deciduous trees in autumn, as red, gold, brown, etc.
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1785 T. Martyn in tr. J.-J. Rousseau Lett. Elements Bot. xvii. 246 Their autumnal hue, when the leaves fade first to purple and then to feuillemort colour.
1786 W. Gilpin Observ. Mountains & Lakes Cumberland I. i. 9 [The oak's] foliage, rich with some autumnal tint.
1810 La Belle Assemblée Sept. 153/1 A pelisse dress of autumnal brown sarsnet.
1858 G. Barnard Landscape Paint. i. 27 The term may be applied when describing golden or autumnal hues, deep reddish browns.
1919 Hide & Leather 27 Sept. 57/2 It is of stout calf leather of an autumnal shade.
1988 M. Hillier Fresh Flowers 154 The clear, bright colors of summer now begin to give way to..warm autumnal rusts, oranges, golds and maroons.
2004 Essent. Guide Paint & Colour 18 Autumnal colors are considered to be relaxing and thus not suitable for offices.
2. figurative. Showing signs of advancing years; characteristic of middle age; mature; (also) designating middle age. Often in negative sense: past the prime of life. Cf. autumn n. 3.
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the mind > goodness and badness > badness or evil > worse > [adjective] > declining or deteriorating > in character or quality
infecta1387
palledc1390
rustyc1390
degeneratea1513
withered1561
bastardlike1577
degenerated1581
degenerous1600
bastardized1611
degenerating1611
wormy1611
autumnal1616
blood-shrunk1634
degenered1637
reduced1689
lowered1730
eviscerated1858
labefact1874
disbloomed-
1616 B. Jonson Epicœne i. i, in Wks. I. 532 A poxe of her autumnall face, her peec'd beauty. View more context for this quotation
1662 Duchess of Newcastle Wits Cabal ii. ii. x, in Playes Written 305 She was in her Autumnal years, as I am, which was about fifty.
1728 E. Young Love of Fame v, in Wks. (1757) I. 137 Autumnal Lyce carries in her face Memento mori.
1778 A. Murphy Know your own Mind ii. 27 They see their mothers with autumnal faces, playing the agreeable, and forgeting that they are no longer young.
1807 A. Bannerman Poems (new ed.) 83 Thine is this cheek, where grief's untimely tears Have worn the furrows of autumnal years.
1873 Good Words 14 656/2 Wordsworth..poured so much of the mellow music of his autumnal genius [into the poem].
1902 E. Wharton Valley of Decision II. iv. vi. 215 She could hardly tolerate the pale autumnal beauty which her glass reflected,..this phantom of youth and radiance.
1948 A. Stringer Red Wine of Youth iv. 49 The Aprilian melancholy of youth may be far from the autumnal gloom of age.
2014 Sunday Age (Melbourne) (Nexis) 23 Nov. (Sports section) 20 Despite his autumnal age, he's still quick.
Compounds
autumnal fever n. [originally after post-classical Latin febris autumnalis ( T. Sydenham Methodus curandi febres (1666) 43)] now historical a fever occurring in autumn; spec. (a) a malarial fever; †(b) U.S. typhoid fever (cf. fall fever n. at fall n.2 Compounds 4) (obsolete).
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1670 J. Ray Coll. Eng. Prov. 32 I shall add a very material and useful observation of Doctor Sidenham's, Sublato morbo (saith he, speaking of Autumnal feavers) æger sedulò purgandus est.
1793 T. Jefferson Let. 8 Sept. in Papers (1997) XXVII. 62 His friends..suspect it is only an autumnal fever.
1896 Jrnl. Amer. Med. Assoc. 26 Dec. 1319/2 The question of the origin of malaria, which is the true cause of our autumnal fevers, and of its peculiar nature, is now so well settled by scientific investigation it is unnecessary to discuss.
1902 Lancet 5 Apr. 942/1 It [sc. typhoid fever] is especially a disease of autumn and is known as the autumnal or fall fever in New England.
2011 Jrnl. Econ. Hist. 71 663 In 1850 and 1854 Daniel Drake published two volumes of American medicine on malaria, which he termed autumnal fever, in the interior valley of North America.
autumnal moth n. either of two European geometrid moths, Epirrita autumnata and E. filigrammaria, having cryptically patterned wings and flying in late summer and autumn.
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1850 J. F. Stephens in J. E. Gray List Specimens Brit. Animals Brit. Mus. V. (Lepidoptera) 177 Oporabia autumnaria. The Autumnal Moth. Oporabia filigrammaria. The Small Autumnal Moth.
1908 R. South Moths Brit. Isles II. 189 (heading) The Autumnal Moth (Oporabia (Epirrita) autumnata).
2010 Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata 134 60 Immature leaves of birches and other deciduous trees and shrubs are the principal food resource for the larvae of the autumnal moth, Epirrita autumnata.
autumnal point n. Astronomy the point on the celestial equator at which it is intersected by the ecliptic and which the sun passes at the autumnal equinox; = first point of Libra n. at point n.1 Phrases 5d. Cf. vernal point n. at vernal adj. Additions.
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1731 N. Bailey Universal Etymol. Eng. Dict. (ed. 2) II Autumnal Equinox, the time when the sun is in the autumnal point.
1763 R. Heath Palladium Extraordinary 73 At the Sign Libra, or autumnal Equinox, he [sc. John Kennedy] objects to the Excess of Minutes and Seconds of Time above whole Days and Hours, as they are observed by the professed Astronomers, in compleating their periodical Revolutions to that autumnal Point.
1854 E. Willard Astronography vii. 81 Spica Virginis is now on the Ecliptic 15° from the Autumnal Point.
1984 D. Hill Hist. Engin. Classical & Medieval Times (1996) x. 193 This inconvenience was remedied by the Spanish Arab al-Zarqāli..who made the vernal or the autumnal point the centre, and the meridian passing through the solstitial the plane of projection.
2012 R. De Laet Casual Sky Observer's Guide xi. 211 The Sun now moves towards the autumnal point in Virgo, which will be reached around September 22 or 23.
autumnal rustic n. a European noctuid moth, Eugnorisma (or Paradiarsia) glareosa, typically having pale grey wings with bold black markings and flying in late summer and early autumn.
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1832 J. Rennie Conspectus Butterflies & Moths Brit. 50 Autumnal Rustic, (Ch[arœas] confinis, Stephens).
1951 C. N. Colyer Flies Brit. Isles 267 Recorded hosts include the Large Cabbage White Butterfly,.., Autumnal rustic, the Broom and Pine Beauty Moths.
2002 M. E. N. Majerus Moths ix. 245 (caption) Melanic polymorphism in the Autumnal Rustic, Paradiarsia glareosa, from Shetland.
autumnal sign n. Astrology and (esp. formerly) Astronomy a zodiacal sign associated with autumn; spec. (in plural) Libra, Scorpio, and Sagittarius.
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1585 J. Blagrave Math. Iewel iii. ix. 29 Because it is Autumne: let the Label runne over the autumnall signes, which are ♎, ♏ and ♐.
1741 Chambers's Cycl. (ed. 5) (at cited word) The autumnal signs are Libra, Scorpio, and Sagittary.
1826 W. H. Prior Lect. Astron. viii. 139 On the 23d of October the Earth again changes its sign, and quitting Aries, enters Taurus..while the Sun appears to enter the second autumnal sign, or Scorpio.
1920 E. Carpenter Pagan & Christan Creeds iii. 42 The Scorpion..of course is the autumnal sign of the Zodiac and herald of winter.
2012 G. Bogart Planets in Therapy iii. 84 During the period of the autumnal signs, Libra, Scorpio and Sagittarius, the plant's leaves wither and fall to the ground.
autumnal star n. (originally, now historical and somewhat rare) a star associated with autumn, esp. through redness of colour or association with falling or decline (cf. sense 2); spec. (with the) Sirius; (in later use chiefly) a star prominent in the sky in autumn.Often with allusion to Milton (see quot. 1671) or (referring to Sirius) to Homer (see quot. 1791). [In quot. 1590 after Middle French astre automnal (late 16th cent. in the passage translated). With uses with reference to Homer compare ancient Greek ἀστὴρ ὀπωρινός star associated with late summer, Sirius. Compare further classical Latin autumnāle sīdus.]
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1590 J. Sylvester tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Canticle of Victorie 8 Like an Autumnall star [Fr. astre Automnal], which ruddie dooth foreshow Some dearth, some pestilence, some bloudie ouer-throw.
1600 G. Chapman in R. Allott Englands Parnassus 409 Herewith she rose, like the Autumnall starre Fresh burnisht in the lofty Ocean flood.
1671 J. Milton Paradise Regain'd xiv. 615 But thou, Infernal Serpent, shalt not long Rule in the Clouds; like an Autumnal Star Or Lightning thou shalt fall from Heav'n trod down Under his feet.
1791 W. Cowper tr. Homer Iliad in Iliad & Odyssey I. v. 7 Bright and steady as the star Autumnal [Gk. ἀστέρ᾽ ὀπωρινῷ].
1811 Reflector 2 333 Dick's nose flamed like the autumnal star,—a nose red as if begot upon the Dog-star by the fiery sun.
1918 E. W. Linn Cycle of Sonnets 55 Last night I saw the star Capella glow, Autumnal star that ages hence shall rise Beyond the eastern hill.
1991 G. V. Zito Sociol. Shakespeare ii. 19 The springtime stars of the Elizabethans had been the autumnal stars of the ancients.
2008 Times 29 Sept. 53/4 In between lie the autumnal stars of the great square of Pegasus, which is much less prominent in the sky than it appears on the sky charts.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2017; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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adj.?1440