season

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in good season

In a timely manner. You are all fine candidates for the position, and I will inform you of my decision in good season.

man for all seasons

A man who is successful and talented in many areas. Harold is a talented writer, director, and actor. He's a man for all seasons.

woman for all seasons

A woman who is successful and talented in many areas. Judy paints, does photography, and writes novels. She's a woman for all seasons.

come into season

1. To be able to be hunted legally, as of a wild animal. We're going hunting this weekend, now that deer have come into season.

2. To be in a state of sexual excitement and able to breed, as of a female animal. Do you hear the stray cat howling and screeching at night? She must have come into season.

silly season

A period during which news outlets cover frivolous or less serious news stories, typically during the summer when fewer topics are generated. Primarily heard in UK. I don't even buy the paper during the silly season because there's nothing worth reading about. You know it's the silly season when your assignment is to cover the circus.

open season (on someone or something)

1. A period of unrestricted hunting on a particular type of animal. Because of the problems with overpopulation, the governor declared open season on deer across the entire state.

2. By extension, a situation or period of time in which someone or something is open to constant, unyielding criticism, scorn, or mistreatment. It's going to be open season if news of this scandal reaches the public. The president seems to be declaring open season on all politicians who disagree with his policies.

See also: open, season

in season

1. Currently available because it is the time of year when the item being discussed is harvested and/or at its peak ripeness, most plentiful, etc. Tomatoes won't be in season until late summer.

2. Legal to hunt or catch during a specified period of time. Make sure you know what's in season before you go out hunting—the regulations are very strict.

3. Of an animal, in its breeding period; in heat. Be sure to steer clear of the bison when they're in season.

See also: season

out of season

1. Not in the time of year in which something is grown or sold. The restaurant only uses local produce, so their menu changes if something is out of season.

2. Not in the time of year in which something is legally permitted to be hunted, caught, or trapped. You'll get a hefty fine if you shoot a deer out of season.

See also: of, out, season

come in(to) heat

and come in(to) season

[for a female animal] to enter into the breeding season. This animal will come into heat in the spring. When did your dog come in season?

come into season

1. [for a game animal] to be subject to legal hunting. When do ducks come into season around here? Deer came into season just yesterday.

2. Go to come in(to) heat.

in season

1. [of a game animal] subject to legal hunting. You cannot shoot ducks. They are not in season.

2. [of a female animal] ready to breed; in estrus; in heat. The cat's in season again.

3. to be currently available for selling. (Some foods and other things are available only at certain seasons. *Typically: be ~; come [into] ~.) Oysters are available in season. Strawberries aren't in season in January.

See also: season

off season

not in the busy time of the year. We don't have much to do off season. Things are very quiet around here off season.

open season

(on some creature) a time of unrestricted hunting of a particular game animal. It's always open season on rabbits around here.

See also: open, season

open season (on someone)

Fig. a period of time when everyone is criticizing someone. (Based on open season (on some creature).) It seems as if it's always open season on politicians. At the news conference, it was open season on the mayor.

See also: open, season

out of season

1. not now available for sale. Sorry, oysters are out of season. We don't have any. Watermelon is out of season in the winter.

2. Fig. not now legally able to be hunted or caught. Are salmon out of season? I caught a trout out of season and had to pay a fine.

See also: of, out, season

season something with something

to make something more flavorful with specific spices and herbs. I always season my stews with lots of freshly ground black pepper. The chili was seasoned with cumin and allspice, among other things.

See also: season

in season

1. At the right time, opportunely, as in "The two young men desired to get back again in good season" (Charles Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit, 1844).

2. Available and ready for eating, or other use; also, legal for hunting or fishing. For example, Strawberries are now in season, or Let me know when trout are in season and I'll go fishing with you. Both usages date from the 1300s, as does the antonym out of season, used for "inopportunely," "unavailable," and also for "not in fashion." For example, Sorry, oysters are out of season this month, or This style used to be very popular, but it's been out of season for several years.

See also: season

open season on

A period of unrestrained criticism or attack on something or someone, as in During an election year it's open season on all officeholders. This expression alludes to the period during which one may legally hunt or fish. [Colloquial; c. 1900]

out of season

see under in season.

See also: of, out, season

open season

COMMON If you say that it is open season on someone or something, you mean that a lot of people are criticizing or attacking them. It's been open season on bankers since the recession started. The press has long declared open season on the royals. Note: In hunting, the open season is the period of the year when it is legal to hunt particular types of animals or birds.

See also: open, season

a man for all seasons

a man who is ready to cope with any contingency and whose behaviour is always appropriate to every occasion.

Robert Whittington applied this description to the English statesman and scholar Sir Thomas More ( 1478–1535 ), and it was used by Robert Bolt as the title of his 1960 play about More.

the silly season

the months of August and September regarded as the time when newspapers often publish trivia because of a lack of important news. chiefly British

This concept and phrase date back to the mid 19th century. In high summer Victorian London was deserted by the wealthy and important during the period in which Parliament and the law courts were in recess.

ˌin/ˌout of ˈseason

1 (of fruit, vegetables, fish, etc.) available/not available in shops/stores because it is the right/wrong time of year for them: Peaches are in season at the moment.
2 at the time of year when many/few people go on holiday/vacation: Hotels are much cheaper out of season.
3 during the time of year when you can/cannot hunt animals: You can’t shoot ducks out of season.

See also: of, out, season

(the) season’s ˈgreetings

(written) used as a greeting at Christmas, especially on Christmas cards

the ˈsilly season

(British English) the time, usually in the summer, when newspapers are full of unimportant stories because there is little serious news

in season

1. Available or ready for eating or other use.

2. Legally permitted to be caught or hunted during a specified period.

3. At the right moment; opportunely.

4. In heat. Used of animals.

See also: season

out of season

1. Not available, permitted, or ready to be eaten, caught, or hunted.

2. Not at the right or proper moment; inopportunely.

See also: of, out, season

References in classic literature ?

They know the routes and resorts of the trappers; where to waylay them on their journeys; where to find them in the hunting seasons, and where to hover about them in winter quarters.

View in context

When this important point shall be achieved, it will be in season to turn our attention to an improvement in the manufacture of the article, But thou knowest, Richard, that I have already subjected our sugar to the process of the refiner, and that the result has produced loaves as white as the snow on yon fields, and possessing the saccharine quality in its utmost purity.

said Kirby, looking up with a simplicity which, coupled with his gigantic frame and manly face, was a little ridiculous, “if you be for trade, mounsher, here is some as good sugar as you’ll find the season through.

View in context

I saw the tents of a white-face last season, after the Rains, and I also took a new yellow bridle to eat.

When I was in my third season, a young and a bold bird, I went down to the river where the big boats come in.

View in context

At the present time one of the most satisfactory features of the Christmas and Thanksgiving season at Tuskegee is the unselfish and beautiful way in which our graduates and students spend their time in administering to the comfort and happiness of others, especially the unfortunate.

Two years later, when the work at Tuskegee had grown considerably, and when we were in the midst of a season when we were so much in need of money that the future looked doubtful and gloomy, the same two Boston ladies sent us six thousand dollars.

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All that we can do, is to keep steadily in mind that each organic being is striving to increase at a geometrical ratio; that each at some period of its life, during some season of the year, during each generation or at intervals, has to struggle for life, and to suffer great destruction.

We behold the face of nature bright with gladness, we often see superabundance of food; we do not see, or we forget, that the birds which are idly singing round us mostly live on insects or seeds, and are thus constantly destroying life; or we forget how largely these songsters, or their eggs, or their nestlings, are destroyed by birds and beasts of prey; we do not always bear in mind, that though food may be now superabundant, it is not so at all seasons of each recurring year.

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But, probably, man did not live long on the earth without discovering the convenience which there is in a house, the domestic comforts, which phrase may have originally signified the satisfactions of the house more than of the family; though these must be extremely partial and occasional in those climates where the house is associated in our thoughts with winter or the rainy season chiefly, and two thirds of the year, except for a parasol, is unnecessary.

I believe that all races at some seasons wear something equivalent to the shirt.

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Oldfield, she has given him to understand that I have refused his offer, not from any dislike of his person, but merely because I am giddy and young, and cannot at present reconcile myself to the thoughts of marriage under any circumstances: but by next season, she has no doubt, I shall have more sense, and hopes my girlish fancies will be worn away.

View in context

Several new kinds of plants sprang up in the garden, which they dressed; and these signs of comfort increased daily as the season advanced.

This frequently took place, but a high wind quickly dried the earth, and the season became far more pleasant than it had been.

View in context

I found now I had business enough to gather and carry home; and I resolved to lay up a store as well of grapes as limes and lemons, to furnish myself for the wet season, which I knew was approaching.