blizzard

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“
On the open plains, where the wind has full sweep, a blizzard is a thing to be dreaded.

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Definitions (9)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. noun A violent snowstorm with winds blowing at a minimum speed of 35 miles (56 kilometers) per hour and visibility of less than one-quarter mile (400 meters) for three hours.
  2. noun A very heavy snowstorm with high winds.
  3. noun A torrent; a superabundance: a blizzard of phone calls.

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Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

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Examples (50)

  • On the open plains where the wind has full sweep, a blizzard is a thing to be dreaded Though we had to face the storm to ride back to the glen, it was the safest thing to do, for we were not far away, and we should find shelter there. —  A harum-scarum schoolgirl
  • The Indian looked up quickly, but nothing was to be seen anywhere save that wild confusion of whirling snow, which in more southerly lands is sometimes called a blizzard, and the back-whirl of which nearly suffocated man and dog. —  The Walrus Hunters A Romance of the Realms of Ice
  • I think it is moderating now--9 p.m We are only 7 miles from our depot and the delay is exasperating January 25.--It was no use turning out at our usual time (5.45 a.m.) as the blizzard was as furious as ever We therefore decided on a late breakfast and no lunch unless able to march. —  South with Scott
  • Fang and hoof and padded claw were at large again in the forests after the blizzard, and Father Roland stopped at each broken path that crossed the trail, pointing out to him the stories that were written in the snow. —  The Courage of Marge O'Doone
  • I happened into the settlement one evening directly ahead of a winter blizzard, and Skipper Tom and his good family opened their little home to me and sheltered me with a hospitable cordial welcome for three days, until the weather cleared and the dogs could travel again and I pushed forward on my journey Skipper Tom stood an inch or two above six feet in his moccasins. —  The Story of Grenfell of the Labrador A Boy's Life of Wilfred T. Grenfell
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Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Perhaps of imitative origin.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. An expressive word, originating in the United States, apparently at first locally on the Atlantic coast (see first quot.), and carried thence to the West, where, in a new application, it came into general notice and use in the winter of 1880-81. The word is evidently a popular formation, and is prob. based, with the usual imitative variation observable in such formations, on what to the popular consciousness is the common root of blaze, blast, blow (the latter notions at least being apparently present in the familiar third sense). In the orig. sense a blizzard is essentially a “blazer,” of which word, indeed, it may be considered a manipulated form: see blaze, and cf. blaze, blast, bluster.
 

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/ˈblɪzərd/
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