Note: Snow is often used to form compounds, most of which are
of obvious meaning; as, snow-capped, snow-clad,
snow-cold, snow-crowned, snow-crust, snow-fed,
snow-haired, snowlike, snow-mantled, snow-nodding,
snow-wrought, and the like.
2. Fig.: Something white like snow, as the white color
(argent) in heraldry; something which falls in, or as in,
flakes.
The field of snow with eagle of black therein.
--Chaucer.
{Snow bunting}. (Zo["o]l.) See {Snowbird}, 1.
{Snow cock} (Zo["o]l.), the snow pheasant.
{Snow flea} (Zo["o]l.), a small black leaping poduran
({Achorutes nivicola}) often found in winter on the snow
in vast numbers.
{Snow flood}, a flood from melted snow.
{Snow flower} (Bot.), the fringe tree.
{Snow fly}, or {Snow insect} (Zo["o]l.), any one of several
species of neuropterous insects of the genus {Boreus}. The
male has rudimentary wings; the female is wingless. These
insects sometimes appear creeping and leaping on the snow
in great numbers.
{Snow gnat} (Zo["o]l.), any wingless dipterous insect of the
genus {Chionea} found running on snow in winter.
{Snow goose} (Zo["o]l.), any one of several species of arctic
geese of the genus {Chen}. The common snow goose ({Chen
hyperborea}), common in the Western United States in
winter, is white, with the tips of the wings black and
legs and bill red. Called also {white brant}, {wavey}, and
{Texas goose}. The blue, or blue-winged, snow goose ({C.
c[oe]rulescens}) is varied with grayish brown and bluish
gray, with the wing quills black and the head and upper
part of the neck white. Called also {white head},
{white-headed goose}, and {bald brant}.
{Snow leopard} (Zool.), the ounce.
{Snow line}, lowest limit of perpetual snow. In the Alps this
is at an altitude of 9,000 feet, in the Andes, at the
equator, 16,000 feet.
{Snow mouse} (Zo["o]l.), a European vole ({Arvicola nivalis})
which inhabits the Alps and other high mountains.
{Snow pheasant} (Zo["o]l.), any one of several species of
large, handsome gallinaceous birds of the genus
{Tetraogallus}, native of the lofty mountains of Asia. The
Himalayn snow pheasant ({T. Himalayensis}) in the
best-known species. Called also {snow cock}, and {snow
chukor}.
{Snow partridge}. (Zo["o]l.) See under {Partridge}.
{Snow pigeon} (Zo["o]l.), a pigeon ({Columba leuconota})
native of the Himalaya mountains. Its back, neck, and rump
are white, the top of the head and the ear coverts are
black.
{Snow plant} (Bot.), a fleshy parasitic herb ({Sarcodes
sanguinea}) growing in the coniferous forests of
California. It is all of a bright red color, and is fabled
to grow from the snow, through which it sometimes shoots
up.