snowstormn.
1. A storm accompanied by a heavy fall of snow.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > precipitation or atmospheric moisture > snow > [noun] > the falling of snow > snow-storm
flight1685
snowstorm1771
pelt1785
1771 A. G. Winslow Diary 6 Dec. (1895) 8 I was prevented dining at unkle Joshua's by a snow storm.
a1800 S. Pegge Suppl. Grose's Provinc. Gloss. (1814) Snow-storm, a continued snow so long as it lies on the ground. North.
1813 P. B. Shelley Queen Mab viii. 102 Those wastes of frozen billows that were hurled By everlasting snow-storms round the poles.
1860 J. Tyndall Glaciers of Alps i. xxiv. 170 I..climbed amid a heavy snow-storm to the Cleft station.
1878 R. Browning La Saisiaz in La Saisiaz: Two Poets of Croisic 17 Bidding care Keep outside with the snow-storm.
2. A paperweight or toy in the form of a transparent dome or globe containing a representation of a scene and loose snow-like particles, which, when shaken, creates the appearance of a snowstorm. Also attributive.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > toy or plaything > other toys > [noun] > others
spurc1450
cock1608
turnel1621
corala1625
house of cardsa1625
Jack-in-the-box1659
(Prince) Rupert's Drops1662
sucker1681
whirligig1686
playbook1694
card house1733
snapper1788
card castle1792
Aaron's bells?1795
Noah's Ark1807
Jacob's ladder1820
cat-stairs1825
daisy chain1841
beanbag1861
playboat1865
piñata1868
teething ring1872
weet-weet1878
tumble-over1883
water cracker1887
jumping-bean1889
play money1894
serpentin1894
comforter1898
pacifier1901
dummy1903
bubble water1904
yo-yo1915
paper airplane1921
snowstorm1926
titty1927
teaser1935
Slinky1948
teether1949
Mr Potato Head1952
squeeze toy1954
Frisbee1957
mobile1957
chew toy1959
water-rocket1961
Crazy Foam1965
playshop1967
war toy1973
waterball1974
pull-along1976
transformer1984
Aerobie1985
1926 ‘O. Douglas’ Proper Place xvii. 149 A round glass globe containing a miniature cottage, which, when shaken, became surrounded with whirling snowflakes. ‘It's a snow-storm,’ she declared triumphantly.
1931 E. Sackville-West Simpson ii. 144 Salathiel held up a glass globe, inside which was a minute Scotch-baronial castle...He shook the globe and a whirlwind of white flakes swirled up... The Snowstorm jerked downwards in his hand.
1939 C. Morley Kitty Foyle (1940) xxxii. 332 It's good to have a person call your attention to something you're so used to you almost forgot thinking about it. I mean the glass snowstorm ball. Molly's back in Chicago and I take the glass ball and give it a whirl.
1947 ‘D. Yates’ Berry Scene x. 273 My eye was caught by a snowstorm—one of those little glass balls, with a baby cottage inside. And when you shake it, snow-flakes begin to fall.
1967 M. Drabble Jerusalem the Golden v. 101 Toys..a tower of bricks, a weather house, a huge pendant snowstorm globe containing a small palace and a small forest.
1975 S. Lauder Killing Time on Corvo ix. 85 I recalled, as a child, staring entranced into Modrinka's snowstorm paper-weight.
3. figurative. An appearance of dense snow on a television or radar screen. Cf. snow n.1 5f.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > broadcasting > television > visual element > [noun] > television picture or image > defects in
multiple image1863
ghost1927
flicker1933
ion spot1936
halation1937
blooming1940
shading1940
misregistration1942
snow1946
snowstorm1948
ringing1949
streaking1956
strobing1961
flickering1968
1948 Nature 31 Jan. 167/1 The visual effect was that of a violent snowstorm of the type well known to televiewers due to motor-car ignition interference, but at a very much more intense level.
1974 L. Deighton Spy Story xviii. 195 The radar screen was a snowstorm that dashed..in a mad rhythm.
1980 J. B. Hilton Anathema Stone i. 16 The television set..produced a snow-storm on every channel.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1913; most recently modified version published online December 2020).
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n.1771