I. snow 1 S2 W3 /snəʊ $ snoʊ/ BrE AmE noun
[ Language: Old English ; Origin: snaw ]
1 . [uncountable] soft white pieces of frozen water that fall from the sky in cold weather and cover the ground ⇨ sleet :
Snow was falling heavily as we entered the village.
I could see footprints in the snow.
The town was buried under three feet of snow.
2 . [countable] a period of time in which snow falls:
one of the heaviest snows this winter
3 . snows [plural] a large amount of snow that has fallen at different times during the winter:
the melting of the winter snows
4 . [uncountable] small white spots on a television picture, caused by bad weather conditions, weak television signals etc
5 . [uncountable] informal ↑ cocaine
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COLLOCATIONS
■ verbs
▪ snow falls
Outside in the dark, snow was falling silently.
▪ snow settles (=stays on the ground)
The snow was beginning to settle.
▪ snow drifts (=is blown into deep piles)
The snow had drifted up against the hedge.
▪ snow covers/blankets something
The ground was covered with snow.
▪ snow melts (=turns to water)
The snow has melted and the ground is bare once more.
■ adjectives
▪ deep
The snow was quite deep in places.
▪ heavy (=when a lot of snow falls)
France has been expecting heavy snow all week.
▪ fresh
I had watched the tracks I’d made disappear under fresh snow.
▪ powdery
The powdery snow flies up as I walk through it.
▪ wet snow
He cleared the wet snow from the car windscreen.
▪ light snow (=when only a small amount falls)
A light snow had begun to fall.
▪ driving snow (=falling fast)
We walked home through driving snow.
▪ swirling snow (=blowing around as it falls)
It was difficult to see in the swirling snow.
■ phrases
▪ several inches/feet of snow
More than eight inches of snow fell in 48 hours.
▪ a blanket/carpet of snow
Within an hour, Bucharest was buried under a blanket of snow.
▪ flakes of snow (=individual pieces of snow)
A few flakes of snow started to fall.
▪ a flurry of snow/a snow flurry (=when a small amount of snow blows around in the wind)
The day was cold, with a few flurries of snow.
▪ a fall of snow (=an occasion when it snows)
We had our first fall of snow in mid-November.
▪ a drift of snow (=snow blown into a pile by the wind)
Sheep became buried in six-foot drifts of snow.
• • •
THESAURUS
▪ snow noun [uncountable] soft white frozen water that falls from the sky:
The ground was covered with deep snow.
|
Snow began to fall.
▪ snowflakes noun [plural] pieces of snow falling from the sky:
The first snowflakes fluttered down between the trees.
▪ sleet noun [uncountable] a mixture of snow and rain:
The snow turned to sleet and then rain.
▪ slush noun [uncountable] snow on the road that has partly melted and is very wet:
I made my way through the dirty slush.
▪ blizzard noun [countable] a storm with a lot of snow and a strong wind:
We got caught in a blizzard on our way to school.
▪ frost noun [uncountable] white powder that covers the ground when it is cold:
Frost can kill delicate plants.
▪ hail/hailstones noun [U, plural] drops of rain that fall as ice:
Hail bounced on the tiled roof.
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He heard a strange sound, like hailstones striking glass.
▪ a white Christmas a Christmas when there is snow:
Do you think there will be a white Christmas this year?
II. snow 2 BrE AmE verb
1 . it snows if it snows, snow falls from the sky:
It snowed all night.
It started snowing around five.
2 . be snowed in to be unable to travel from a place because so much snow has fallen there:
We were snowed in for three days last winter.
3 . be snowed under
a) informal to have more work than you can deal with
be snowed under with
I found myself snowed under with work.
b) if an area is snowed under, a lot of snow has fallen there so that people are not able to travel
4 . [transitive] American English informal to persuade someone to believe or support something, especially by lying to them
snow somebody into doing something
Millions of readers were snowed into believing it was a true story.