different between nival vs snow

English

Etymology

From Latin nivalis, from nix, nivis (“snow”).

Adjective

nival (comparative more nival, superlative most nival)

1. Abounding with snow; snowy; snow-covered (now especially in reference to plant habitats).

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Johnson to this entry?)

   • 2003, Laszlo Nagy, Georg Grabherr, Christian Körner, Desmond B.A. Thompson, Alpine Biodiversity in Europe, Springer Science & Business Media (?ISBN), page 406:

     The observed climate warming during the twentieth century has affected alpine vegetation by increasing vascular plant species richness on nival mountain tops […]

   • 2002, Mountain Research and Development:

     It includes the nival mountain top, the moorlands above the timberline, a belt of tropical rainforest, the semihumid footzone of the tertiary volcano, the semiarid high Laikipia Plateau, the escarpment, and the semiarid to arid Samburu Plains.

   • 1971, Meteorological and Geoastrophysical Abstracts, volume 22, issues 1-6, page 447:

     In this way, the subnival mountain range on the southern facet with its strong solifluction influence (level slope formation) approaches in height the nival mountain range on the northern facet, which is distinguished by its well developed glacial forms.

2. (botany) Found or thriving in snowy conditions.
   • 1914, The Journal of Ecology, page 60:

     In 1884 O. Heer published a comprehensive account of the nival flora of Switzerland, in which he listed 338 species of flowering plants found above 2600 m.; of these, 6 were found above 3900 m.

   • 2013, Rosa Margesin, Franz Schinner, Cold-Adapted Organisms: Ecology, Physiology, Enzymology and Molecular Biology, Springer Science & Business Media (?ISBN), page 165:

     As can be seen from the present chapter, main problems of adaptation, ecophysiology, ecology and evolutionary biology of the nival fauna were hardly investigated at all.” The early history of explorations of the nival zone in the Alps has been summarized […]

References

• nival in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Anagrams

• Alvin, Lavin, Vilna, anvil, vinal

French

Etymology

From Latin nivalis, from nix.

Pronunciation

Adjective

nival (feminine singular nivale, masculine plural nivaux, feminine plural nivales)

1. (attributively) snow

Related terms

• névé
• neige
• nivéal (adjective)
• nivologie

Further reading

• “nival” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ni?va?l/
• Rhymes: -a?l

Adjective

nival (not comparable)

1. nival

Declension

Derived terms

• subnival

Spanish

Adjective

nival (plural nivales)

1. snow; snow

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English snow, snaw, from Old English sn?w (“snow”), from Proto-West Germanic *snaiw, from Proto-Germanic *snaiwaz (“snow”), from Proto-Indo-European *snóyg??os (“snow”), from the root *sneyg??-.

Cognate with Scots snaw (“snow”), West Frisian snie (“snow”), Dutch sneeuw (“snow”), German Schnee (“snow”), Danish sne (“snow”), Norwegian snø (“snow”), Swedish snö (“snow”), Icelandic snjór (“snow”), Latin nix (“snow”), Russian ???? (sneg), Ancient Greek ???? (nípha), dialectal Albanian nehë (“place where the snow melts”), Sanskrit ????? (snéha, “oil, grease”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) enPR: sn?, IPA^(key): /sn??/, [sn???]
• (US) enPR: sn?, IPA^(key): /sno?/, [sno??]
• Rhymes: -??

Noun

snow (countable and uncountable, plural snows)

1. (uncountable) The frozen, crystalline state of water that falls as precipitation.
   • 1928, A. A. Milne, The House at Pooh Corner,

     The wind had dropped, and the snow, tired of rushing around in circles trying to catch itself up, now fluttered gently down until it found a place on which to rest.

2. (uncountable) Any similar frozen form of a gas or liquid.
   • 2008, Neal Asher, "Alien Archaeology"

     Clad in a coldsuit Jael trudged through a thin layer of CO₂ snow ...

3. (countable) A snowfall; a blanket of frozen, crystalline water.

   We have had several heavy snows this year.

4. (uncountable) A shade of the color white.

5. (uncountable) The moving pattern of random dots displayed on a television, etc., when no transmission signal is being received.

   Synonym: shash

6. (uncountable, slang) Cocaine.
   • 1930, Dorothy L. Sayers, Strong Poison

     Besides, if it wasn't poison, it might be 'snow' or something.

Synonyms

• (cocaine): blow

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

snow (third-person singular simple present snows, present participle snowing, simple past and past participle snowed)

1. (impersonal) To have snow fall from the sky.

   It is snowing.

   It started to snow.

2. (colloquial) To hoodwink someone, especially by presenting confusing information.
3. (poker) To bluff in draw poker by refusing to draw any cards.

Usage notes

• In older texts and still in dialects, the past tense snew and past participle snown may be encountered.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

References

• Brunson, Doyle (1978) Super/System: A course in power poker, B&G Publishing Company

Etymology 2

From Low German Snaue, or Dutch snaauw, from Low German Snau (“a snout, a beak”). See snout.

Noun

snow (plural snows)

1. (nautical) A square-rigged vessel, differing from a brig only in that she has a trysail mast close abaft the mainmast, on which a large trysail is hoisted.

Anagrams

• nows, owns, sow'n, sown, wons

Middle English

Alternative forms

• snaw, snowe, snawe, snow?, sno?, snogh, snou

Etymology

From Old English sn?w, from Proto-West Germanic *snaiw.

Pronunciation

• (Early ME, Northern ME) IPA^(key): /sn?u?/
• IPA^(key): /sn?u?/

Noun

snow (plural snowes)

1. snow (frozen water as precipitation, either while falling or once landed)
2. snow-white (a snowy white)
3. The temperature where snow appears.
4. A blanket of snow; a snowing.

Derived terms

• snewen
• snow whit
• snowen
• snowisshe
• snowy

Descendants

• English: snow
• Scots: snaw
• Yola: sneow, sneew, snowe

References

• “snou, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-06-14.

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /es?no/, [ez?no]

• IPA^(key): /es?nou/, [ez?nou?]

Noun

snow m (uncountable)

1. snowboarding

Derived terms