wintry
adjUK /ˈwɪnt(ə)ɹɪ/ · US /ˈwɪnt(ə)ɹi/
Etymology From winter + -y; compare Old English wintriġ (a parallel formation).
1
Suggestive or characteristic of winter; cold, stormy.
- wintry weather
- A faded, and an ancient dragon he was; and many a wintry storm of rain, snow, sleet, and hail, had changed his colour from a gaudy blue to a faint lack-lustre shade of gray.1842 December – 1844 July, Charles Dickens, chapter 3, in The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1844, →OCLC, page 19:
2 more examples
- In one village in Bachu County, more than 1,000 buildings and houses collapsed, according to the state-run New China News Agency. Tens of thousands of people were left homeless and were preparing to spend the night outside in the wintry chill, witnesses said.2003 February 24, John Pomfret, “Quake Kills More Than 250 in Western China”, in The Washington Post, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 03 Mar 2024:
- The UK could face a spell of wintry weather in March, with lower-than-average temperatures and even the chance of snow, the Met Office has warned.2023 February 28, James Robinson, “UK weather: Met Office says snow could be on the way as cold air over Greenland risks bringing wintry conditions”, in Sky News, archived from the original on 18 Mar 2023:
2
Of precipitation Containing sleet or snow.
- It will be cloudy overnight, with outbreaks of heavy rain at times. The rain may turn wintry over higher ground.
3
Aged, white-haired.
4
Chilling, cheerless.
- a wintry remark
- He reached the old ruins at last, dim masses of moss-grown masonry in the glimmer of the wintry starlight.1934, Frank Richards, The Magnet: The Bounder's Folly:
- Derived terms
- unwintry, wintrily, wintriness, wintry mix, wintry shower