wintryadj.adv.
/ˈwɪntri/, U.S. /ˈwɪntri/ A. adj.
1. Of or relating to winter; occurring, existing, or found in winter; adapted or suitable for winter. Now rare or merged in sense A. 2.Now largely replaced by winter used attributively (see winter n.1 Compounds 1a).
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > period > year > season > [adjective] > of or relating to winter
wintryeOE
winterOE
winterlyOE
frostyc1430
brumala1522
hiemalc1560
wintering1591
winterish1610
wintereda1616
hiematical1631
hibernal1646
wintersome1840
mid-wintry1852
mid-winterly1892
the world > time > period > year > season > [adjective] > of or relating to winter > having the character of or resembling winter
wintryeOE
winterly1547
eOE tr. Orosius Hist. (BL Add.) (1980) i. i. 11 Þonne on þæm wintregum tidum wyrþ se muþa fordrifen foran from þæm no[r]þernum windum.
eOE King Ælfred tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (Otho) (2009) I. iv. 392 Swa deð eac se ðe wintregum weder[um] wile blostman [se]can.
1566 T. Drant tr. Horace Medicinable Morall sig. G.v The fysher drawes the wyntrye seas [L. hiberno ex aequore], whylste I doo sytte at ease.
1590 J. Hammon tr. B. Aneau Αλεκτορ xvii. 108 The time of the Brume about the 14. of December and wintrie Solstice when the Sunne entreth the Tropick of Capricorne.
1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Hyvernal, winterie, winterlie.
1645 J. Milton Passion i, in Poems 17 In Wintry solstice like the shortn'd light Soon swallow'd up in dark and long out-living night.
1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Georgics i, in tr. Virgil Wks. 57 The wise Ant her wintry Store provides. View more context for this quotation
1770 O. Goldsmith Deserted Village 133 To pick her wintry faggot from the thorn.
1795 W. Cowper Needless Alarm 20 Her berries red, With which the fieldfare, wint'ry guest, is fed.
1860 J. Tyndall Glaciers of Alps i. v. 40 Where the wintry edifices had fallen.
1903 J. H. Boner Poems 50 From wintry solstice come, The sun that coaxed these blossoms to the boughs.
2004 Independent on Sunday 7 Nov. 11/1 My regular reports of our wintry antics encourage the hackers of Hinksey Heights to set up their own version.
2. Having the quality of winter; of such a kind as occurs in winter; characteristic of winter.
ΚΠ
1565 T. Cooper Thesaurus at Brumalis A foule wintrie daye.
1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene i. xi. sig. Lv When wintry storme his wrathful wreck does threat.
1603 H. Clapham Three Partes Salomon Song of Songs Expounded iii. iv. 152 The stormie weather is ouer, the dashing wintry showres quite gone.
1633 P. Fletcher Purple Island viii. v. 108 Glad that in wintrie night they fire had found.
1713 N. Rowe Jane Shore ii. 24 The Wintry Sky Descends in Storms.
1786 R. Burns Poems 166 The Wintry West extends his blast.
1825 W. Scott Betrothed ii, in Tales Crusaders I. 34 A barbed horse and his rider will fear to stem the wintry flood.
1830 C. Lyell Princ. Geol. I. 120 At this period, the climate of equinoctial lands might resemble that of the present temperate zone, or perhaps be far more wintery.
1876 C. F. Hall Polar Exped. 415 Great ice-crystals..gave the vessel a wintery appearance.
1926 B. Johnston Let. 10 Oct. in Lett. Home 1926–45 (1998) 5 The weather is getting quite wintry now, compared with the summery weather we had at the beginning of this half.
1936 H. Nicolson Let. 7 Apr. (1966) 256 Luncheon..was held in a winter-garden, more wintery than gardeny.
1979 A. Brink Dry White Season iv. ii. 286 The pale autumn days growing ever more wintry. The leaves falling, the trees barer, drier.
2014 C. Tóibín Nora Webster viii. 124 She imagined now how strange it would be in December and January, how storm-swept and wintry.
3. figurative with various shades of meaning.
a. Aged; infirm or withered as a result of old age. Of hair: white with age. Also applied to old age, esp. as the bringer of infirmity, decay, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > absence of emotion > [adjective] > cold or lacking warm feeling
winter-coldOE
coldc1175
cheald1340
umbrous1483
key-colda1535
frosty1548
frostbitten1564
icy1567
wintry1579
cold-hearteda1616
unwarmeda1625
dry1637
cool1641
frigidal1651
frigid1658
thieveless1725
cool-hearted1748
wintry1748
chill1751
cold as charity1795
freezing1813
ice-cold1815
chilly1841
impersonal1846
pincé1858
ice-cool1891
touch-me-not-ish1895
marmorean1902
the mind > emotion > suffering > dejection > [adjective] > gloomy or depressing
darkOE
unmerryOE
deathlyc1225
dolefulc1275
elengec1275
dreicha1300
coolc1350
cloudyc1374
sada1375
colda1400
deadlya1400
joylessc1400
unjoyful?c1400
disconsolatea1413
mournfula1425
funeralc1425
uncheerfulc1449
dolent1489
dolesome1533
heavy-hearted1555
glum1558
ungladsome1558
black1562
pleasureless1567
dern1570
plaintive?1570
glummish1573
cheerless1575
comfortless1576
wintry1579
glummy1580
funebral1581
discouraging1584
dernful?1591
murk1596
recomfortless1596
sullen1597
amating1600
lugubrious1601
dusky1602
sable1603
funebrial1604
damping1607
mortifying1611
tearful?1611
uncouth1611
dulsome1613
luctual1613
dismal1617
winterous1617
unked1620
mopish1621
godforsaken?1623
uncheerly1627
funebrious1630
lugubrous1632
drearisome1633
unheartsome1637
feral1641
drear1645
darksome1649
sadding1649
saddening1650
disheartening1654
funebrous1654
luctiferous1656
mestifical1656
tristifical1656
sooty1657
dreary1667
tenebrose1677
clouded1682
tragicala1700
funereal1707
gloomy1710
sepulchrala1711
dumpishc1717
bleaka1719
depressive1727
lugubre1727
muzzy1728
dispiriting1733
uncheery1760
unconsolatory1760
unjolly1764
Decemberly1765
sombre1768
uncouthie1768
depressing1772
unmirthful1782
sombrous1789
disanimating1791
Decemberish1793
grey1794
uncheering1796
ungenial1796
uncomforting1798
disencouraginga1806
stern1812
chilling1815
uncheered1817
dejecting1818
mopey1821
desponding1828
wisht1829
leadening1835
unsportful1837
demoralizing1840
Novemberish1840
frigid1844
morne1844
tragic1848
wet-blanketty1848
morgue1850
ungladdeneda1851
adusk1856
smileless1858
soul-sick1858
Novemberya1864
saturnine1863
down1873
lacklustre1883
Heaven-abandoneda1907
downbeat1952
doomy1967
the world > life > source or principle of life > age > old age > [adjective] > decrepit or senile
decrepit?a1500
wintry1579
superannated1605
superannate1608
superannuated1616
superannuate1647
doitereda1790
doitering1828
rickety1841
senile1847
nodded1887
geriatric1968
the world > life > the body > hair > colour of hair > [adjective] > white
whiteOE
wintry1579
the world > life > the body > hair > colour of hair > [adjective] > grey, hoary
grey1207
hoarc1290
frostya1450
forhoaredc1450
grizzled1458
hoary1530
hoared1557
greyish1567
wintry1579
silver1590
silveredc1600
silver-grey1607
frosted1628
iron-grey1809
iron-greyed1826
grizzly1843
1579 E. Spenser Shepheardes Cal. Dec. 29 What wreaked I of wintrye ages waste.
1607 H. Raymonde Maiden Queene sig. C4v Old wintry age, in grisly furrowes now, Callends of death indents vpon my brow.
1633 P. Fletcher Piscatorie Eclogs vii. i. 43 in Purple Island Cold, wintry, wither'd Tithon.
1658 T. Bancroft Heroical Lover viii. 84 The hoary Elders wintry faces.
1749 London Evening-Post 21 Sept. The Furrows of the antiquated..wintry Face.
1779 H. Cowley Albina iv. 56 Thou sure shalt prove my Daughter what thou said'st, And leave these wintry locks drench'd in my blood.
1839 York Herald 22 Sept. I saw that aged bridegroom, with his white and wintry hair.
1886 St. Louis Globe-Democrat 10 Dec. 6/6 The little old gentleman with wintry locks and time-seamed countenance was an inconspicuous passenger on a Harlem train.
1903 Manch. Guardian 3 Feb. 7 It was a great little speech, compact of the kindliness of his wintry age and the settled wisdom of a long life.
1954 C. L. Tarter Family of Destiny xxxiv. 267 An aging rabbi stroked his long, wintry beard.
2006 Times (Nexis) 10 Aug. (T2 section) 21 Bleach's gaunt, wintry face appears, Beckett-style, from within a brazier... He looks like an antique retainer borrowed from the Addams Family.
b. Lacking warmth or brightness; dismal, dreary, cheerless. Also: devoid of fervour or affection. Cf. frosty adj. 6b.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > absence of emotion > [adjective] > cold or lacking warm feeling
winter-coldOE
coldc1175
cheald1340
umbrous1483
key-colda1535
frosty1548
frostbitten1564
icy1567
wintry1579
cold-hearteda1616
unwarmeda1625
dry1637
cool1641
frigidal1651
frigid1658
thieveless1725
cool-hearted1748
wintry1748
chill1751
cold as charity1795
freezing1813
ice-cold1815
chilly1841
impersonal1846
pincé1858
ice-cool1891
touch-me-not-ish1895
marmorean1902
the mind > emotion > absence of emotion > [adjective] > lukewarm or lacking enthusiasm > lacking passion
wintry1748
neutrologistic1824
1748 S. Richardson Clarissa III. lix. 281 Nodding at each other in two opposite chimney-corners, in a winter-evening, and over a wintry love.
1779 E. B. Greene Satires Persius Paraphrastically Imitated ii. 22 When wintry frowns the blazing hearth inspire, Hard times!
a1822 P. B. Shelley tr. J. W. von Goethe Scenes from Faust in Posthumous Poems (1824) 399 Nothing of such an influence do I feel. My body is all wintry.
1846 A. Marsh Father Darcy xliii. 329 A faint wintry kind of hope.
1876 W. Besant & J. Rice Golden Butterfly I. vi. 110 Her cold face shone..with the wintry light of a forced smile.
1895 Pall Mall Gaz. 5 Oct. 3/3 His latest work met with a somewhat wintry welcome.
1906 Smart Set Apr. 147/1 Some thirty minutes later, came Mrs. Smythe..with a wintry expression which rested on her face as though skewered with pins.
1959 W. Golding Free Fall 134 He could smile, too, not a wintry smile but a genuine one of joy and friendliness.
1975 R. Davies World of Wonders (1977) i. vii. 63 ‘How you scholars underestimate us artists,’ he said, with wintry Scandinavian melancholy.
2003 M. Cobley Wintergod (2004) xiii. 197 He..bestowed a wintry smile on the cheering crowd as they passed by.
2016 Times (Nexis) 18 June (Sat. Review) 48 The court of Athens is ruled over by a wintry fascist Theseus.., surrounded by blackshirts.
4. Exposed or subject to the effect or influence of winter; chilled or blasted by winter.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > properties of materials > temperature > coldness > [adjective] > made cold or cool > by winter
wintry1693
1693 C. Mather Winter-medit. 81 In some Wintry Countreys, the Carpenters must Thaw their Wood, before they can Cut it.
1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Æneis iv, in tr. Virgil Wks. 302 When he leaves the frost Of wintry Xanthus.
1730 J. Thomson Winter in Seasons 203 In this dire season, oft the whirlwind's wing Sweeps up the burthen of whole wintry plains.
1799 R. Southey Eng. Eclogues vi, in Poems II. 226 This poor cottage..Fleeced with that grey and wintry moss.
1803 R. Heber Palestine 8 The wintry top of giant Lebanon.
1817 P. B. Shelley Laon & Cythna vi. xxviii. 142 The wintry loneliness Of those dead leaves.
1853 C. Dickens Bleak House xii. 108 Endless avenues and cross-avenues of wintry trees!
1918 Blackwood's Mag. Oct. 464/2 You saw nothing but a field or two of bleached wintry grass.
1962 Life 5 Jan. 54/3 (caption) With new assurance John Regan..strides past wintry trees from church.
2015 Western Morning News (Nexis) 4 Jan. 10 Above me, wintry tree branches speared the clear blue sky.
B. adv.
Modifying an adjective (esp. cold): to an extent or in a manner typical or suggestive of winter.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > absence of emotion > [adverb] > coldly or without warm feeling
freezinglya1420
coldly1550
frostily1616
coolly1627
chilly1640
wintry1691
chillinglyc1784
icily1825
wintrily1843
frozenly1851
frigidly1883
chillily1886
1691 A. Wood Athenæ Oxonienses I. 370 It growing wintry cold in Apr. the waters all over-spread the earth.
1783 W. Blake Poet. Sketches 11 His face is fair as heav'n, When springing buds unfold; O why to him was't giv'n, Whose heart is wintry cold?
1892 W. Watson Poems 9 Thine..Is wintry chill.
1907 Everybody's Mag. Dec. 847/3 People clad in furs (for it was wintry cold) passed into the cafés around him.
2012 D. O'Connor Paw Tracks 104 In November of that year the nights were wintry cold.
Compounds
wintry mix n. chiefly U.S. a mixture of various forms of precipitation associated with cold weather, typically including freezing rain, sleet, and snow; precipitation in this form.
ΚΠ
1970 Stevens Point (Wisconsin) Daily Jrnl. 27 Nov. 19/2 (heading) Wintry mix for much of Wisconsin.
1985 Chicago Tribune 1 Jan. i. 16/4 A storm in the Midwest will produce a wintry mix of snow, sleet and freezing rain.
2010 N.Y. Mag. 8 Mar. 41 Last week's miserable ‘wintry mix’ notwithstanding, the time for spring-cleaning is nigh.
Derivatives
ˈwintrily adv.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > absence of emotion > [adverb] > coldly or without warm feeling
freezinglya1420
coldly1550
frostily1616
coolly1627
chilly1640
wintry1691
chillinglyc1784
icily1825
wintrily1843
frozenly1851
frigidly1883
chillily1886
1843 Colburn's United Service Mag. July 378 At this moment the sublime peaks of the gigantic Frenchman [sc. a mountain] glanced glorious in the sun, whose golden beams were wintrily reflected from its snowy steeps.
a1849 T. L. Beddoes Poems (1851) I. 159 Thou..dost shiver Wintrily sad.
1884 Harper's Mag. Sept. 613/1 She..began..to smile wintrily.
1951 Musical Times 92 554/2 Enjoyably vigorous, close-wrought music and a wintrily evocative middle movement.
2010 Guardian (Nexis) 4 Mar. 13 Life feels deeply, wintrily joyless. It feels wall-to-wall grey.
ˈwintriness n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > period > year > season > [noun] > winter > wintry quality
winter day1612
wintriness1824
winterliness1840
1824 Bell's Life in London 22 Aug. 270/1 With all this winteryness he is still a boy—a link-boy.
1843 tr. F. Bremer President's Daughters xxxi. 99/1 The wildness and wintriness of the North drew me with irresistible power toward it.
1916 Spectator 18 Mar. 383/1 On some morning when the harvest's done, And autumn its first wintriness reveals.
1961 Shakespeare Q. 12 435 This was an autumnal Margaret, lacking the sheer wintriness, the icy blasts, with which old Genevieve Ward used to scarify the Old Vic.
2015 Independent Traveller (Nexis) 5 Dec. 14 There's..nothing like ditching traditional wintriness and jetting off to hike in warmer climes.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2017; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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adj.adv.eOE