I 
winnow 
2. To blow upon ; toss about by blowing. 
Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find 
Thee sittinn: careless on a granary floor, 
Thy hair soft-lifted by the icinnmuing wind. 
Keats, To Autumn. 
They set the wind to xcinnow pulse and grain. 
Emerson, Musketaquid. 
3. To separate, expel, or disperse by or as by 
fanning or blowing ; sift or weed out ; separate 
or distinguish, as one thing from another. 
Bitter torture shall 
Winnow the truth from falsehood. 
Shak., Cymbeline, v. 5. 134. 
Your office is to winnow false from true. 
Covyper, Hope, 1. 417. 
And lets the kind breeze, with its delicate fan, 
Winrww the heat from out his dank gray hair. 
LoweU, Under the Willows. 
4. To set in motion or vibration; beat as with 
a fan or wings. [Rare.] 
He speeds, and through the vast ethereal sky 
Sails between worlds and worlds, with steady wing ; 
Now on the polar winds, then with quick fan 
Winnows the buxom air. MUton, P. L., v. 270. 
5. To wave to and fro; flutter; flap. [Rare.] 
The waken'd lav'rock warbling springs. 
An' climbs the early sky, 
Winnowing blythe her dewy wings 
In morning's rosy eye. 
Bums, Now Spring has Clad the Grove in Green. 
6. To pursue or accomplish with a waving or 
flapping motion, as of wings. [Rare.] 
Aft«r wildly circling about, and reaching a height at 
which it (the snipe] appears a mere speck, where it winnmcs 
a random zigzag course, it abruptly shoots downwards and 
aslant, and then as abruptly stops to regain its former ele- 
vation, and this process it repeats many times. 
A. Newton, Encyc. Brit., XXII. 200. 
7. Figuratively, to subject to a process analo- 
gous to the winnowing of ^rain; separate into 
parts according to kind; sift; analyze or scru- 
tinize carefully ; examine; test. 
It being a matter very strange and incredible that one 
which with bo great diligence had tcinnmced his adver- 
saries' writings should be ignorant of their minds. 
Hooker, Eccles. Polity, vi. 6. 
Emp. All may be foes ; or how to be distinguished. 
If some be friends? 
Bend. They may with ease be teinnow'd. 
I>ryden, Don Sebastian, IL 1. 
H, intrans. 1. To free grain or the like from 
chaff or refuse matter by means of wind. 
Winnow not with every wind. Ecclus. v. 9. 
Some innnow, some fan, 
Some cast that can 
In casting provide, 
For seed lay aside. 
Tusser, Husbandry, November's Abstract. 
2. To move about with a flapping motion, as 
of wings ; flutter. 
Their (owls'] ghostly shapes xeinnowing silently around 
in the twilight. 
Mrs. C. Meredith, My Uouse in Tasmania, p. 356. 
winnow (win'6), n. [< irinnow^ r.] That which 
winnows or which is used in win no wing ; a con- 
trivance for fanning or winnowing grain. 
How solemnly the pendent ivy-mass 
Swings in its winnow! Coleridge, The Picture. 
They (leaves of the Palmyra palm] are largely employed 
for making pans, bags, winnows, hats, umbrellas, and for 
thatching, etc. Sci. Amer., N. a, LXII. 374. 
winnower (win'o-6r), «. [< ME. winewei-ey 
windwcrcy windewere ; < winnow + -cri.] One 
who winnows; also, an apparatus for winnow- 
ing. 
As, in sacred floors of bams, upon com-tnnnow'rs flies 
The chaff, driv'n with an opposite wind. 
Chapman, Iliad, v. 497. 
Threshing machines are popular here, because the grain 
does not have to run through a winnower. 
The Engineer, LXX. 472. 
winno wing-basket (win'o-ing-bas'ket), n. In 
her., a bearing representing a large flat basket 
of peculiar form with two handles. 
winnowing-fan (win'o-ing-fan), w. In her., 
same as winnowing-basket. 
winnowing-macbine (win'o-ing-ma-shen*), n. 
A machine for cleaning grain by tlie action of 
riddles and sieves and an air-blast; a fanning- 
raachine or fanning-mill. See cut under fan- 
ninff'tnill. 
winnow-sheet (win'6-shet), n. [Also dial. 
wim-sheet; < ME. icynwe-schete ; < winnow + 
sheeLl A sheet used or intended for use in 
winnowing. [Obsolete or prov. Eng.] 
His wljf walked him with alongegode. 
In a cutted cote cutted full heyge, 
Wrapped in a wvnwe schete to weren hire fro weders. 
Piers Plowman's Crede (E. E. T. 8.), 1. 43.5. 
Winrow, w. See windrow. 
winsey, n. Same as wincey. 
6943 
Winslow's foramen. See foramen of Winslmvj 
under foramen, 
Winslow's ligament. See ligament of Wins- 
low, under ligament. 
winsome (win'sum), a. [< ME. winsome, win- 
som, wynsum, wunsmn, < AS. xcynsum (= OS. 
wunsam = OHG. wunnisam, wunnosam, MHG. 
xcunnesam), joyful, delightful, < wyn^ joy (see 
winne), + -smn = E. -some.'] 1. That gives or 
is fitted to give joy, delight, or satisfaction; 
delightful; pleasing, agreeable, or attractive; 
charming; winning; sweet. 
Busk ye, busk ye, my bonny bonny bride. 
Busk ye, busk ye, my winsome marrow. 
The Braes of Yarrow (Percy's Reliques, 11. iii. 24). 
We almost see his leonine face and lifted brow, . . . 
the clear gray eye, and ineffably sweet and winsome smile. 
Stedman, Vict. Poets, p. 58. 
2t. Kindly; gracious. 
And nil forgete alle his foryheldinges, 
That tcinsnm es to alle thine wickenesses. 
Early Eng. Psalter (ed. Stevenson), cii. [A. V. ciii. 3]. 
3. Joyful; cheerful; merry; lively; gay. 
I gat your letter, toinsome Willie. 
Bums, To W. Simpson. 
winsomely (win'sum-li), adv. [< ME. *winsom- 
ly, < AS. wynsumlice ; as winsome + -ly^.} In a 
winsome manner. 
O Jock, sae winsomely 's ye ride, 
Wi' baith your feet upo' ae side ! 
Jock o' the Side (Child's Ballads, VI. 86). 
winsomeness (win'sum-nes), n. The property 
or character of being winsome; attractiveness ; 
loveliness. J. li. Green. {Imp, Diet.) 
winter^ ( win't^r), n. and a. [< ME. winter, tcyn- 
ter, < AS. winter (pi. winter or wintru), winter, 
also a year, = OS. wintar = OFries. D. LG. win- 
ter = OHG. icintar, MHG. G. winter = Icel. vettVj 
vittr (for *vintr), mod. vetr = Sw. Dan. vinter 
= Goth, wintrus, winter, year; ulterior origin 
doubtful. The supposed connection with wind 
(as if winter were the * windy se%son') is pho- 
netically improbable. Some suggest a connec- 
tion with Olr. Jind, white, Old Gaulish Vindo- 
in several proper names.] I, »• 1. The cold 
season of the year. Astronomically winter is reckoned 
to b^in in northern latitudes when the sun enters Capri- 
corn, or at the solstice (about December 21st), and to end 
at the equinox in March ; but in ordinary speech winter 
comprises the three coldest months— December, January, 
and February being reckoned the winter months in the 
United States, and November, I>ecember, and January in 
Great Britain. In southern latitudes winter corresponds 
to the northern summer. See season. 
As an hosebonde hopeth after an hard w^ter, 
¥f god gyueth hym the lif, to haue a good heruest. 
Piers Plowman (C), xiii. 196. 
Lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; the 
flowers appear on the earth ; the time of the singing of 
birds is come. Cant. ii. 11. 
2. A year: now chiefly poetical, with implica- 
tion of a hard year or of frosty age. 
I trowe of thritty wynter he was oold. 
Chaucer, Shipraan's Tale, 1. 26. 
And there I saw mage Merlin, whose vast wit 
And hundred vjinters are but as the hands 
Of loytd vassals toiling for their liege. 
Tennyson, Coming of Arthur. 
3. Figuratively, a period analogous to the win- 
ter of the year; a season of inertia or suspend- 
ed activity, or of cheerlessness, dreariness, or 
adversity. 
Now is the winter of our discontent 
Made glorious summer by this sun of York. 
Shak., Rich. III., i. 1. 1. 
The winter of sorrow best shows 
The truth of a friend such as you. 
Cowper, Winter Nosegay. 
4. The last portion of corn brought home at 
the end of harvest; or, the state of affairs when 
all the grain on a farm is reaped and brought un- 
der cover; also, the rural feast held in celebra- 
tion of the ingathering of the crops. [Scotch.] 
For now the maiden has been win, 
And Winter is at last brought In ; 
And syne they dance and had the kirn. 
The Ilar'st Big, st. 136. (Jamieson.) 
H, a. Occurring in, characteristic of, or per- 
taining to winter; wintry. 
Youth like summer mom, age like winter weather. 
Shak., Passionate Pilgrim, 1. 159. 
On a sudden, lo ! the level lake. 
And the long glories of the winter moon. 
Tennyson, Passing of Arthur. 
Lime-tree winter moth, an American geometrid moth, 
Hybemia tiliaria, which greatly resembles in habit the 
European winter moth, and is an occasional enemy to or- 
chards in the United States, although more commonly 
found on Iniden and elm. T W. //a rrw.— Winter aconite. 
Seeacom7«,and cut under /,'m(((Ai«.— winter apple, bar- 
ley. See the nouns. — Winter assizes, in B?ig. law, any 
court of assize, sessions of oyer and terminer, or jail-deliv- 
ery held in November, December, or January. The Win- 
winterberry 
ter Assizes Act, 187C (39 and 40 Vict., c. 57), allows orders 
In council combining several counties for speedy trial of 
prisoners at winter assizes.— Winter beer. See Schenk 
beer, under 6eeri.— Winter bud. Same as statohlast.— 
Winter chip-bird, the tree-sparrow, Spizella monticola, 
which comes into the Fnited States in the fall, about the 
time the common chip-bird leaves. See tree-sparrow, 2. 
—Winter cholera, a form of diarrhea occurring during 
the winter months as an epidemic, due probably to im- 
purities in the drinking-water: an occasional name. — 
Winter cough, chronic bronchitis in which the cough ap- 
pears with the first frosty weather in the autumn and con- 
tinues as long as tlie cold weather lasts. —Winter cress. 
See wijiter-cress.—'WiiiteT crop. See crop.— Winter 
daffodil. See ^ni6«r(7ia.— Winter duck, (a) The pin- 
tail or sprigtail duck, Dafila acuta. Montagu. [British.] 
(6) Specifically, Harelda glacialis, in various parts of the 
United States. See cut under //areWa.— Winter falcon. 
See /alco7i.— Winter fallow, ground that is fallowed in 
winter.— Winter fat. Same as white sage (a) (which see, 
under sage^).— Winter fever, a fever, probably typhoid 
(though there was dispute as to its nature), which was prev- 
alent in some of the then western States of the Union in the 
winter of 1842- 3.— Winter goose. See goose.— Winter 
gull, a gull which appears in winter in a given locality, as 
the common gull, Larus canus, in England, or the herring- 
gull in the United States. See cuts under (7«W and herring- 
gull. Also tointer-bomiet, tcinter meiv. See kiUiwake (with 
cut).— Winter hawk, the red-shouldered buzzard, Buteo 
lineatus, common all the year in many parts of the United 
States : a name due to the fact that the young of this bird 
was formerly taken as a different species, known as the 
winter falcon, Falco (or Buteo) hiemalis. — Winter helio- 
trope. See lieliotrope.— Winter hellebore. See helle- 
bore, 2.— Winter hematuria, the passage of bloody urine 
occurring in the winter months, and apparently as tlie 
result of cold.— Winter itch, a very annoying pruritus, 
chiefly of the lower extremities, occurring during the win- 
ter months.- Winter mew. Same as vxinter guU. See 
cut under gull. [British.] — Winter moth. (a) A Euro- 
pean geometrid moth, Cheimatobia brumata, whose larva 
feeds on the buds and foliage of plum-, cherry-, apple-, 
and other fruit-trees. The female is wingless, and lays 
her eggs on the twigs in autumn. The larvre hatch in 
early spring, and often do great damage in England and 
the more northern European countries. The species also 
occurs in Greenland. (6) See lime-tree winter moth, above, 
—Winter near. See peari.— Winter pond, a protected 
pond used to keep fish, as carp, from perishing in severe 
weather.— Winter quarters, queening, rape. See 
quarter'^, etc.— Winter redbird, the cardinal grosbeak, 
which winters in the United States where other redl>ird8 
(tanagers) do not. (See cut under Cardinalis.) The an- 
tithesis is summer redbird {Piranga fls^ira).— Winter 
rocket. See t/eWow-rocA-e(.— winter savory, ^gq savory. 
— Winter shad. Same as mud-shad. —Winter sleep, the 
hibernation or torpidity of an animal during cold weather. 
— Winter snipe. See mipeK-- Winter solstice. See 
solstice, 1. — Winter teal, the American teal. See (caH. 
— Winter wagtail, the gray wagtail, Motacilla boariUa. 
Montagu^ [British.]— Winter Wheat. See M'A<7a(.— Win- 
ter wren. Troglodytes hiemali". See iiren, and cut un- 
der TrofHodytes. 
winter^ (uin'ter), V. [< ME. wynteren, icyntren 
= D. winteren, be or become winter; from the 
noun.] 1. intrans. To spend or pass the win- 
ter; take winter quarters; hiemate; hibernate. 
And whan the hauene was not able for to dwelle in wyn- 
ter, ful manye ordeyneden counseil for to . . . wynteme 
in the hauene of Crete. Wyclif, Acts xxvii. 12. 
After many dreadfull combates with the ice, and one of 
the shippes departing from the other, they were forced to 
winter in Nona Zemla. Purcha^, Pilgrimage, p. 434. 
I went to London with my family to winter at Soho, in 
the great square. Evelyn, Diary, Nov. 27, 1689. 
II. trans. 1. To overtake with winter; de- 
tain during winter. [R.are.] 
They sayled to the 49. degree and a halfe vnderthe pole 
Antartyke ; where beinge unentered, they were inforced to 
remayne there for the space of two monethes. 
B. Eden, tr. of Antonio Pigafetta (First Books on Amer- 
[ica, ed. Arber, p. 251). 
2. To keep, feed, or manage during the win- 
ter: as, delicate plants must be wintered under 
cover. 
Is there no keeping 
A wife to one man's use? no wintering 
These cattel without straying? 
Fletcher, Woman's Prize, iii. 3. 
3. To retain during a winter. [Rare.] 
To winter an opinion is too tedious. 
Rev. T. Adams, Works, III. 5. 
winter^ (win'ter), n. [Origin obscure; prob. 
ult. connected with icindle and wind'^.'] 1+. The 
part of the old-style hand printing-press which 
sustained the carriage. — 2. An implement made 
to hang on the front of a grate, for the purpose of 
keeping warm a tea-kettle or the like. Imp. Diet. 
winter-Deaten (win't^r-be^'^tn), a. Oppressed 
or exhausted by the severity of winter. 
He compareth his carefuU case to the sadde season of 
the yeare, to the frostie ground, to the fiosen trees, and 
to his owne winter-beaten flocke. 
Spenser, Shep. Cal., Januaiy, Arg. 
winterberry (win'ter-ber^''i), «.; \A. winterber- 
ries (-iz). A name of several shrubs of the ge- 
nus //ex, belonging to the section (once genus) 
Prinos, growing in eastern North America. The 
winterberry especially so named is /. verticillata, other- 
wise called black alder, aonietimcs distinguisheil as Uir- 
ginia winterberry. It bears deciduous leaves, and small 
white flowers in sessile clusters, followed by abundant 
shining scarlet berries of the size of a pea, which remain 
