1. (Bot.) A winter bud, in which the rudimentary foliage or flower, as of most trees and shrubs in the
temperate zone, is protected by closely overlapping scales.
2. (Zoöl.) A little case in which certain insects pass the winter.
3. Winter home or abiding place. J. Burroughs.
Hibernal
(Hi*ber"nal) a. [L. hibernalis, from the root of hiems winter; akin to Gr. snow, Skr. hima cold,
winter, snow: cf. F. hibernal.] Belonging or relating to winter; wintry; winterish. Sir T. Browne.
Hibernate
(Hi"ber*nate) v. i. [imp. & p. p. Hibernated ; p. pr. & vb. n. Hibernating ] [L. hibernare,
hibernatum, fr. hibernus wintry. See Hibernal.] To winter; to pass the season of winter in close quarters,
in a torpid or lethargic state, as certain mammals, reptiles, and insects.
Inclination would lead me to hibernate, during half the year, in this uncomfortable climate of Great Britain.
Southey. Hibernation
(Hi`ber*na"tion) n. [Cf. F. hibernation.] The act or state of hibernating. Evelyn.
Hibernian
(Hi*ber"ni*an) a. [L. Hibernia, Ireland.] Of or pertaining to Hibernia, now Ireland; Irish. —
n. A native or an inhabitant of Ireland.
Hibernicism
(Hi*ber"ni*cism Hi*ber"ni*an*ism) n. An idiom or mode of speech peculiar to the Irish. Todd.
Hiberno-Celtic
(Hi*ber"no-Celt"ic) n. The native language of the Irish; that branch of the Celtic languages
spoken by the natives of Ireland. Also adj.
Hibiscus
(Hi*bis"cus) n. [L., marsh mallow; cf. Gr. .] (Bot.) A genus of plants (herbs, shrubs, or trees),
some species of which have large, showy flowers. Some species are cultivated in India for their fiber,
which is used as a substitute for hemp. See Althea, Hollyhock, and Manoe.
Hiccius doctius
(Hic"ci*us doc"ti*us) [Corrupted fr. L. hic est doctus this is a learned man.] A juggler.
[Cant] Hudibras.
Hiccough
(Hic"cough) n. [OE. hickup, hicket, hickock; prob. of imitative origin; cf. D. & Dan. hik, Sw.
hicka, Armor. hak, hik, W. ig, F. hoquet.] (Physiol.) A modified respiratory movement; a spasmodic
inspiration, consisting of a sudden contraction of the diaphragm, accompanied with closure of the glottis,
so that further entrance of air is prevented, while the impulse of the column of air entering and striking
upon the closed glottis produces a sound, or hiccough. [Written also hickup or hiccup.]
Hiccough
(Hic"cough) v. i. [imp. & p. p. Hiccoughed ; p. pr. & vb. n. Hiccoughing.] To have a
hiccough or hiccoughs.
Hickory
(Hick"o*ry) n. [North American Indian pawcohiccora (Capt. J. Smith) a kind of milk or oily
liquor pressed from pounded hickory nuts. "Pohickory" is named in a list of Virginia trees, in 1653, and
this was finally shortened to "hickory." J. H. Trumbull.] (Bot.) An American tree of the genus Carya,
of which there are several species. The shagbark is the C. alba, and has a very rough bark; it affords
the hickory nut of the markets. The pignut, or brown hickory, is the C. glabra. The swamp hickory is C.
amara, having a nut whose shell is very thin and the kernel bitter.
Hickory shad. (Zoöl.) (a) The mattowacca, or fall herring. (b) The gizzard shad.
Hicksite
(Hicks"ite) n. A member or follower of the "liberal" party, headed by Elias Hicks, which, because
of a change of views respecting the divinity of Christ and the Atonement, seceded from the conservative
portion of the Society of Friends in the United States, in 1827.
