winterbourne
noun
- stream that runs dry in summer
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈwɪntəbɔːn/ / /ˈwɪntɚˌboɹn/ / [-ɾɚ-]
name
Etymology: From Old English Winterburna < winter + burna (“stream”), 'the stream that flows in winter'.
- A place in England:
- A place in England:
- A place in England:
- A place in England:
- A community in Woolwich township, Regional Municipality of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.
- A surname from Old English.
noun
Etymology: From winter + bourne (“seasonal brook or stream”), partly also from the placenames Winterborne, Winterbourne, which are derived from Old English winterburna (“stream that is full in winter”), from winter (from Proto-Germanic *wintruz, further etymology uncertain) + burna (“stream”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrewh₁- (“to boil; to brew”)). The Old English word appears to have survived only in placenames.
- A stream that only flows in winter or after wet weather, particularly in an area rich in limestone.
“[F]rom the graveyard itself burst up one of those noble springs known as winter-bournes in the chalk ranges, which, awakened in autumn from the abysses to which it had shrunk during the summer's drought, was hurrying down upon its six months' course, a broad sheet of oily silver, over a temporary channel of smooth green sward.”
“The stream is a winterbourne - it flows only in winter or other periods of high rainfall and is usually dry in summer.”