a. and sb. Forms: (see SNOW sb.1 and WHITE a.). [f. SNOW sb.1 Cf. Fris. sniewit, MDu. sne(e)wit (Du. sneeuwwit), MLG. snewit, MHG. snêwîz (G. schneeweiss), ON. snǽ-, snjóhvítr (Sw. snöhvit, Da. snehvid).]

1

  A.  adj. 1. White as snow; pure white.

2

  α.  c. 1000.  Ælfric, in Assmann, Ags. Hom., iv. 186. Ða ʓesloh hine sona se snawhwita hreofla.

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a. 1200.  St. Marher., 18. The hude snaw hwit swartete as hit snarchte.

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c. 1205.  Lay., 24521. Þreo snau-white culueren.

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a. 1225.  Leg. Kath., 2443. Heo … strahte forð swiftliche þe snawhwite swire.

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1596.  Dalrymple, trans. Leslie’s Hist. Scot., I. 29. Oxne and Bules snawquhyte with a mane thick.

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1791.  Burns, Tam o’ Shanter, 154. Snaw-white seventeen hunder linnen!

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  β.  c. 1200.  Trin. Coll. Hom., 115. Þe engles þe wið þe apostles stoden mid snouwite shrude.

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a. 1225.  Ancr. R., 314. Efter his deaðe, he com one niht…, ine snou hwite cloðes.

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c. 1386.  Chaucer, Sec. Nun’s T., 254. Tuo corunes han we, Snow white and Rose reed, that shynen cleere.

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1390.  Gower, Conf., I. 306. That ther he was snow whyt tofore, Evere afterward colblak therfore He was transformed.

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c. 1450.  Godstow Reg., 17. Þat we ben cladde in a snow-whyȝt stole.

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1582.  Stanyhurst, Æneis, III. (Arb.), 87. Heere … fowre fayre steeds snow whit I marcked.

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c. 1610.  Women Saints, 39. She thought she brought forth a snow-white doue.

15

a. 1700.  Evelyn, Diary, 14 Feb. 1645. With her statue over it in snow-white marble.

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1763.  Phil. Trans., LIV. 97. It has a body like a gnat, snow-white.

17

1807.  Thomson, Chem. (ed. 3), II. 277. Camphoric acid thus obtained is in snow-white crystals.

18

1860.  Tyndall, Glac., I. iii. 30. Above all rose the snow-white cone of the Ortler.

19

1877.  Black, Green Past., ii. Two snow-white and waxen hyacinths.

20

  Comb.  1753.  Chambers’ Cycl., Suppl., s.v. Linaria, The snow-white flowered creeping toad flax. Ibid., s.v. Plumeria, The snow-white-flowered plumeria, with … pointed leaves.

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  b.  Clad in robes of pure white. rare.

22

1847.  Emerson, Poems, Each & All. Her beauty’s best attire Was woven still by the snow-white choir.

23

  2.  In the specific names of fishes, birds or moths (see quots.).

24

1804.  Shaw, Gen. Zool., V. I. 73. Snow-white Salmon. Ibid. (1809), VII. I. 149. Snow-White Falcon. Ibid., 240. Snow-white Owl spotted with black.

25

1832.  J. Rennie, Butterfl. & Moths, 224. The Snow White Spot (Incurvaria spuria). Ibid., 230. The Snow-white Plume (Pterophorus niveidactylus).

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  B.  sb. a. Pure white. b. A kind of wool of this color.

27

1890.  Science-Gossip, XXVI. 170. The flowers varied in colour from snow-white to green and white flushed with crimson purple.

28

1896.  Daily News, 23 Jan., 9/4. Cape and Natal wools meet with good competition, and medium to superior snow-whites … have advanced.

29

  Hence Snow-whiteness.

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1856.  Ruskin, Mod. Paint., IV. V. iii. § 24. 53. The authority for using snow-whiteness as a type of purity.

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