midwinter

noun

1. (countable, uncountable)The middle of winter.

   “IN midwinter the shadow that hung over John gathered into storm-cloud.”

2. (countable, uncountable)The winter solstice; about December 21st or 22nd.

adj

1. (not-comparable)Of or occurring in the middle of winter.

   “Except for the mid-winter period, when the 11.30 a.m. from Paddington and its opposite number will be withdrawn - Torquay now has seven daily expresses to and from Paddington as compared with five down and six up previously.”

   “There is aid at hand in the tourist’s personal war midwinter fatigue and ennui—airlines serving the Caribbean islands are at odds with each other’s tariffs, and their competitive juggling of schedules and prices benefits the tourist.”

   “When my son was born, a midwinter child, he cried pitifully at the ward's lights, and settled to sleep only when he was laid in a big pram with a black hood under a black umbrella.”

   “For more than a century, groundhogs have been midwinter luminaries, scampering into the spotlight on February 2 to divine whether the second half of the season will be cold or mild.”