snowy

English

Etymology

From Middle English snowy, snawy; from Old English snāwiġ. By surface analysis, snow +‎ -y.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈsnəʊi/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈsnoʊi/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊi
• Hyphenation: snow‧y

Adjective

snowy (comparative snowier, superlative snowiest)

1. Marked by snow; characterized by snow.

   snowy day

   snowy picture on the television

2. Covered with snow; snow-covered; besnowed.

   snowy hillside

   • 1960 December, Voyageur, “The Mountain Railways of the Bernese Oberland”, in Trains Illustrated, page 752:

     So we continue climbing to the saddle of the Kleine Scheidegg, where ahead there comes into view the wide expanse of the Grindelwald valley, backed by the snowy crown of the Wetterhorn.

3. Snow-white in color; white as snow.

   Synonym: niveous

   • 1873, Grace Ramsay, A Salon in the Last Days of the Empire, and Other Sketches‎^[1], London: Richard Bentley and Son, page 4:

     A man got up in all the outward trappings of a gentleman: an extensive display of snowy linen, unimpeachable tailoring, ganté, botté, in perfection; nothing overdone.

   • 1888, The Lady's Book - Volumes 6-7, page 243:

     Disgusted with the world and worldlings, I drove down to an estate of my father's, in Suffolk, determined to “misanthropise” and be romantic ; but all my plans were disconcerted by the “Large blue eyes, fair locks, and snowy hands” of Miss Emily Hathenden, whose estate bordered on my own.

Derived terms

• snowily
• snowiness
• snowy albatross (Diomedea exulans)
• snowy angle (Darpa pteria)
• snowy auk
• snowy barbet (Lybius leucocephalus)
• snowy bolete (Austroboletus niveus)
• snowy bumble bee (Bombus niveatus)
• snowy campion (Silene nivea)
• snowy cinquefoil (Potentilla nivalis)
• snowy cotinga (Carpodectes nitidus)
• snowy curculio (Conotrachelus nivosus)
• snowy daisy-bush (Olearia lirata)
• snowy dart (Anicla illapsa)
• snowy egret (Egretta thula)
• snowy falcon
• snowy footman (Termessa nivosa)
• snowy gabara (Gabara subnivosella)
• snowy geometer moth (Eugonobapta nivosaria)
• snowy gooseberry (Ribes niveum)
• snowy grouper (Hyporthodus niveatus)
• snowy hare
• snowy heron (Egretta thula)
• snowy hydrangea (Hydrangea radiata)
• snowy inky cap, snowy ink cap (Coprinopsis nivea)
• snowyish
• snowy lemmings (Dicrostonyx spp.)
• snowy limpet (Niveotectura pallida)
• snowy map lichen (Rehmia chionea)
• snowy masked bee (Hylaeus nivicola, Hylaeus nivalis)
• snowy mason (Osmia niveata)
• snowy mespil, snowy mespilus (Amelanchier lamarckii)
• snowy mining bee (Andrena nivalis)
• snowy mintbush (Prostanthera nivea)
• snowy missile Meza indusiata)
• Snowy Monaro
• Snowy Mountains
• snowy orchid (Habenaria nivea)
• snowy owl (Bubo scandiacus)
• snowy oysterling (Cheimonophyllum haedinum)
• snowy pear
• snowy petrel (Pagodroma nivea)
• Snowy Plain
• snowy plover (Anarhynchus nivosus)
• Snowy River
• snowy sheathbill (Chionis alba)
• snowy thistle (Cirsium occidentale var.)
• snowy tree cricket (Oecanthus fultoni)
• snowy twig pruner (Cloniocerus albomarmoratus)
• Snowy Valleys
• snowy waxcap (Cuphophyllus nivea)
• snowy woodrush (Luzula nivea)
• snowy woodwax (Hygrophorus piceae))
• unsnowy

Translations

marked by snow

• Arabic: ثَلْجِيّ (ṯaljiyy)
• Belarusian: сне́жны (snjéžny), сьне́жны (sʹnjéžny) (Taraškievica), снегавы́ (snjehavý), сьнегавы́ (sʹnjehavý) (Taraškievica)
• Bulgarian: сне́жен (bg) (snéžen)
• Catalan: nevat (ca), neval
• Czech: sněžný (cs)
• Esperanto: neĝa
• Finnish: luminen (fi); lumisateinen (of snowfall)
• French: neigeux (fr)
• Galician: nevarento (gl)
• German: Schnee- (de)
• Greek: χιονισμένος (el) m (chionisménos)
• Icelandic: snjóugur, snjóþungur
• Irish: sneachtúil, sneachtach
• Italian: innevato (it)
• Komi:

  Komi-Yazva: лөмъя (låmja)

• Latin: nivōsus, niveus (la)
• Macedonian: снежен (snežen)
• Māori: pūhuka
• Persian: برفی (fa) (barfi)
• Polish: śnieżny (pl)
• Portuguese: nevoso, nevado (pt)
• Russian: сне́жный (ru) (snéžnyj), снегово́й (ru) (snegovój)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: сне̏жан, сње̏жан

  Latin: snȅžan (sh), snjȅžan (sh)

• Slovak: snežný (sk)
• Slovene: snežen
• Spanish: nevado (es)
• Swedish: snöig (sv)
• Ukrainian: сні́жний (snížnyj), снігови́й (snihovýj)

snow-covered — see snow-covered

white as snow — see white as snow

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: ^{(please verify)} цасан (casan)

Noun

snowy (plural snowies)

1. (informal) Synonym of snowy owl.
   • 1981, Kansas Wildlife, volumes 38-39, page 31:

     […] the snowy was successful in forty-two percent of its strikes.

   • 2010, Elaine Landau, Snowy Owls: Hunters of the Snow and Ice:

     Adult male snowies are nearly white. They become whiter as they get older. Female birds are usually white with narrow black or brown bars and spots. Young snowies are darker than the adults, and they have heavier markings.

   • 2008, Jan Dunlap, The Boreal Owl Murder

     Since then, I've seen a Snowy almost every winter. […] But I still liked to see them, big and white, gliding noiselessly, gracefully, over open fields looking for rodents.

2. (informal) Synonym of snowy egret.

   (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this sense?)

Further reading

• “snowy”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Middle English

Alternative forms

• snawy, snawi

Etymology

From Old English snāwiġ; equivalent to snow +‎ -y.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsnɔu̯iː/
• (Early Middle English, Northern) IPA^(key): /ˈsnɑu̯iː/

Adjective

snowy

1. snowy (resembling snow in temperature or colour)

Descendants

• English: snowy
• Scots: snawy

References

• “snouī, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 14 June 2018.

Polish

Etymology

Inherited from Old Polish snowy. By surface analysis, sen +‎ -owy.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsnɔ.vɘ/
• Rhymes: -ɔvɘ
• Syllabification: sno‧wy

Adjective

snowy (not comparable, no derived adverb)

1. (rare, relational) dream; oneiric (of or pertaining to dreams)

   Synonym: (archaic) senny

Declension

Declension of snowy (hard)

singular					plural
	masculine animate	masculine inanimate	feminine	neuter	virile (= masculine personal)	non-virile
nominative/vocative	snowy		snowa	snowe	snowi	snowe
genitive	snowego		snowej	snowego	snowych
dative	snowemu		snowej	snowemu	snowym
accusative	snowego	snowy	snową	snowe	snowych	snowe
instrumental	snowym		snową	snowym	snowymi
locative	snowym		snowej	snowym	snowych

Further reading

• “snowy”, in Polish dictionaries at PWN‎^[2] (in Polish)