Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
Snow \Snow\, n. [OE. snow, snaw, AS. sn[=a]w; akin to D. sneeuw,
OS. & OHG. sn[=e]o, G. schnee, Icel. sn[ae]r, snj[=o]r,
snaj[=a]r, Sw. sn["o], Dan. snee, Goth. snaiws, Lith.
sn["e]gas, Russ. snieg', Ir. & Gael. sneachd, W. nyf, L. nix,
nivis, Gr. acc. ni`fa, also AS. sn[=i]wan to snow, G.
schneien, OHG. sn[=i]wan, Lith. snigti, L. ningit it snows,
Gr. ni`fei, Zend snizh to snow; cf. Skr. snih to be wet or
sticky. [root]172.]
1. Watery particles congealed into white or transparent
crystals or flakes in the air, and falling to the earth,
exhibiting a great variety of very beautiful and perfect
forms.
Note: Snow is often used to form compounds, most of which are
of obvious meaning; as, snow-capped, snow-clad,
snow-cold, snow-crowned, snow-crust, snow-fed,
snow-haired, snowlike, snow-mantled, snow-nodding,
snow-wrought, and the like.
2. Fig.: Something white like snow, as the white color
(argent) in heraldry; something which falls in, or as in,
flakes.
The field of snow with eagle of black therein.
--Chaucer.
{Red snow}. See under {Red}.
{Snow bunting}. (Zo["o]l.) See {Snowbird}, 1.
{Snow cock} (Zo["o]l.), the snow pheasant.
{Snow flea} (Zo["o]l.), a small black leaping poduran
({Achorutes nivicola}) often found in winter on the snow
in vast numbers.
{Snow flood}, a flood from melted snow.
{Snow flower} (Bot.), the fringe tree.
{Snow fly}, or {Snow insect} (Zo["o]l.), any one of several
species of neuropterous insects of the genus {Boreus}. The
male has rudimentary wings; the female is wingless. These
insects sometimes appear creeping and leaping on the snow
in great numbers.
{Snow gnat} (Zo["o]l.), any wingless dipterous insect of the
genus {Chionea} found running on snow in winter.
{Snow goose} (Zo["o]l.), any one of several species of arctic
geese of the genus {Chen}. The common snow goose ({Chen
hyperborea}), common in the Western United States in
winter, is white, with the tips of the wings black and
legs and bill red. Called also {white brant}, {wavey}, and
{Texas goose}. The blue, or blue-winged, snow goose ({C.
c[oe]rulescens}) is varied with grayish brown and bluish
gray, with the wing quills black and the head and upper
part of the neck white. Called also {white head},
{white-headed goose}, and {bald brant}.
{Snow leopard} (Zool.), the ounce.
{Snow line}, lowest limit of perpetual snow. In the Alps this
is at an altitude of 9,000 feet, in the Andes, at the
equator, 16,000 feet.
{Snow mouse} (Zo["o]l.), a European vole ({Arvicola nivalis})
which inhabits the Alps and other high mountains.
{Snow pheasant} (Zo["o]l.), any one of several species of
large, handsome gallinaceous birds of the genus
{Tetraogallus}, native of the lofty mountains of Asia. The
Himalayn snow pheasant ({T. Himalayensis}) in the
best-known species. Called also {snow cock}, and {snow
chukor}.
{Snow partridge}. (Zo["o]l.) See under {Partridge}.
{Snow pigeon} (Zo["o]l.), a pigeon ({Columba leuconota})
native of the Himalaya mountains. Its back, neck, and rump
are white, the top of the head and the ear coverts are
black.
{Snow plant} (Bot.), a fleshy parasitic herb ({Sarcodes
sanguinea}) growing in the coniferous forests of
California. It is all of a bright red color, and is fabled
to grow from the snow, through which it sometimes shoots
up.
{Red horse}. (Zo["o]l.)
(a) Any large American red fresh-water sucker, especially
{Moxostoma macrolepidotum} and allied species.
(b) See the Note under {Drumfish}.
{Red lead}.
(Chem) See under {Lead}, and {Minium}.
{Red-lead ore}. (Min.) Same as {Crocoite}.
{Red liquor} (Dyeing), a solution consisting essentially of
aluminium acetate, used as a mordant in the fixation of
dyestuffs on vegetable fiber; -- so called because used
originally for red dyestuffs. Called also {red mordant}.
{Red maggot} (Zo["o]l.), the larva of the wheat midge.
{Red manganese}. (Min.) Same as {Rhodochrosite}.
{Red man}, one of the American Indians; -- so called from his
color.
{Red maple} (Bot.), a species of maple ({Acer rubrum}). See
{Maple}.
{Red mite}. (Zo["o]l.) See {Red spider}, below.
{Red mulberry} (Bot.), an American mulberry of a dark purple
color ({Morus rubra}).
{Red mullet} (Zo["o]l.), the surmullet. See {Mullet}.
{Red ocher} (Min.), a soft earthy variety of hematite, of a
reddish color.
{Red perch} (Zo["o]l.), the rosefish.
{Red phosphorus}. (Chem.) See under {Phosphorus}.
{Red pine} (Bot.), an American species of pine ({Pinus
resinosa}); -- so named from its reddish bark.
{Red precipitate}. See under {Precipitate}.
{Red Republican} (European Politics), originally, one who
maintained extreme republican doctrines in France, --
because a red liberty cap was the badge of the party; an
extreme radical in social reform. [Cant]
{Red ribbon}, the ribbon of the Order of the Bath in England.
{Red sanders}. (Bot.) See {Sanders}.
{Red sandstone}. (Geol.) See under {Sandstone}.
{Red scale} (Zo["o]l.), a scale insect ({Aspidiotus
aurantii}) very injurious to the orange tree in California
and Australia.
{Red silver} (Min.), an ore of silver, of a ruby-red or
reddish black color. It includes {proustite}, or light red
silver, and {pyrargyrite}, or dark red silver.
{Red snapper} (Zo["o]l.), a large fish ({Lutlanus aya or
Blackfordii}) abundant in the Gulf of Mexico and about the
Florida reefs.
{Red snow}, snow colored by a mocroscopic unicellular alga
({Protococcus nivalis}) which produces large patches of
scarlet on the snows of arctic or mountainous regions.
{Red softening} (Med.) a form of cerebral softening in which
the affected parts are red, -- a condition due either to
infarction or inflammation.
{Red spider} (Zo["o]l.), a very small web-spinning mite
({Tetranychus telarius}) which infests, and often
destroys, plants of various kinds, especially those
cultivated in houses and conservatories. It feeds mostly
on the under side of the leaves, and causes them to turn
yellow and die. The adult insects are usually pale red.
Called also {red mite}.
{Red squirrel} (Zo["o]l.), the chickaree.
{Red tape}, the tape used in public offices for tying up
documents, etc.; hence, official formality and delay.