niveous

English

Etymology

From Latin niveus, from nix (“snow”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: nĭv'ē-əs, IPA^(key): /ˈnɪvi.əs/

• Audio (Southern England):

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Adjective

niveous (comparative more niveous, superlative most niveous)

1. Snowy; resembling snow.
   • 1646, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica‎:

     So Cinabar becomes red by the acide exhalation of sulphur, which otherwise presents a pure and niveous white.

   • 1818 May, The American Monthly Magazine and Critical Review‎:

     One solitary author, Beckman, declares that he saw niveous crystallizations in the form of hexangular pillars, that they occurred at Frankfort, upon the Oder, in 1667.

   • 1946, Transactions of the American Entomological Society, page 257:

     Shining to polished with some metallic colors except the cinereous face which is more niveous on the parafacies, and is slightly dusted on the dorsal surfaces, excepting the two apical tergites.

Anagrams

• envious, veinous