winter
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Related to winters: Winners
buy straw hats in winter
Especially of stocks, to buy when both demand and cost are low so that one may then sell when demand and price are high. A phrase attributed to Russell Sage, a 19th-century American investor and financier. Primarily heard in US, South Africa. I made a fortune buying shares in the startup company before smartphone technology became ubiquitous—I bought straw hats in winter, and now they're worth a fortune!
summer and winter
To monitor one's behavior or abilities for a sufficiently long period of time. Oh yes, I will summer and winter him during this probationary period, to determine if we should hire him full-time.
winter rat
A beat-up car that one does not mind driving in harsh winter weather. Primarily heard in US. A: "You don't take your Corvette out in the snow, do you?" B: "Of course not, that's what my winter rat is for!"
dead of winter
The middle of winter, which is usually especially cold. I find myself dreaming of tropical islands every year in the dead of winter.
in the dead of winter
In or during the middle of winter, especially at its coldest, darkest period. I find myself dreaming of tropical islands every year in the dead of winter.
winter on (something)
1. To rely on something as a primary source of nutrition during the winter months. With so many trees having been cut down due to the beetle infestation, the various animals that winter on them will face the very real danger of dying out. There is nothing for the birds to winter on here, so they have begun migrating south to warmer climates.
2. To feed something to some kind of animal as a primary source of nutrition during the winter months. We'll have to winter the pigs on our scraps as there has been a shortage of proper pig feed the whole fall.
winter over
1. To survive, endure, or tolerate the winter climate. Come spring, all the various bugs and critters that have been wintering over in the soil start to emerge into the warm sunshine. Some warm-blooded animals, such as bears, winter over by putting on a huge amount of weight and hibernating the whole time.
2. To pass or endure the winter months in or at some other location. My parents summer in New Hampshire and winter over in Florida. My whole family is planning to winter over at the cabin this year.
winter over (some place)
to spend the winter at some place. The bears all winter over in their dens. All the animals are getting ready either to migrate or to winter over. My parents winter over in Florida.
dead of
The period of greatest intensity of something, such as darkness or cold. For example, I love looking at seed catalogs in the dead of winter, when it's below zero outside. The earliest recorded use of dead of night, for "darkest time of night," was in Edward Hall's Chronicle of 1548: "In the dead of the night ... he broke up his camp and fled." Dead of winter, for the coldest part of winter, dates from the early 1600s.
the dead of winter
the coldest part of winter.The sense of dead here and in the previous idiom developed in the 16th century from dead time of —, meaning the period most characterized by lack of signs of life or activity.
winter on
v.
1. To feed on something during winter: The deer winter on tree bark.
2. To feed some animal something during the winter: We wintered the cows on cornstalks.
winter over
v.
To spend, endure, or survive a winter: The scientist wintered over at the South Pole. My plant has wintered over successfully for three years.
dead of night/winter, the
The time of most intense stillness, darkness, or cold. This usage dates from the sixteenth century. Shakespeare had it in Twelfth Night (1.5), “Even in the dead of night,” and Washington Irving used the alternate phrase in Salmagundi (1807–08), “In the dead of winter, when nature is without charm.”