season

—seasonedly, adv. —seasoner, n. —seasonless, adj.

/see"zeuhn/, n.

1. one of the four periods of the year (spring, summer, autumn, and winter), beginning astronomically at an equinox or solstice, but geographically at different dates in different climates.

2. a period of the year characterized by particular conditions of weather, temperature, etc.: the rainy season.

3. a period of the year when something is best or available: the oyster season.

4. a period of the year marked by certain conditions, activities, etc.: baseball season.

5. a period of the year immediately before and after a special holiday or occasion: the Christmas season.

6. Sports.

a. a period with reference to the total number of games to be played by a team: a 162-game season.

b. a period with reference to the won-lost record of a team after it has completed its schedule: a .700 season.

7. any period or time: in the season of my youth.

8. a suitable, proper, fitting, or right time: This is not the season for frivolity.

9. for a season, for a time, esp. a short time: He lived in Paris for a season.

10. in good season, in enough time; sufficiently early: Applicants will be notified of our decision in good season.

11. in season,

a. in the time or state for use, eating, etc.: Asparagus is now in season.

b. in the period regulated by law, as for hunting and fishing.

c. at the right time; opportunely.

d. (of an animal, esp. female) in a state of readiness for mating; in heat.

e. in good season.

12. in season and out of season, regardless of time or season; at all times: Misfortunes plague this family in season and out of season.

13. out of season, not in season: The price is so high because lilacs are out of season now.

v.t.

14. to heighten or improve the flavor of (food) by adding condiments, spices, herbs, or the like.

15. to give relish or a certain character to: conversation seasoned with wit.

16. to mature, ripen, or condition by exposure to suitable conditions or treatment: a writer seasoned by experience.

17. to dry or otherwise treat (lumber) so as to harden and render immune to shrinkage, warpage, etc.

18. to accustom or harden: troops seasoned by battle.

v.i.

19. to become seasoned, matured, hardened, or the like.

[1250-1300; (n.) ME sesoun, seson < OF se(i)son < L sation- (s. of satio) a sowing (VL: sowing time), equiv. to sa- (var. s. of serere to sow) + -tion- -TION; (v.) ME seso(u)nen < OF saisonner to ripen, make palatable by aging, deriv. of seison]

Syn. 19. mature, harden, toughen.

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Any of four divisions of the year according to consistent annual changes in the weather.

In the Northern Hemisphere, winter formally begins on the winter solstice, December 21 or 22; spring on the vernal equinox, March 20 or 21; summer on the summer solstice, June 21 or 22; and fall (autumn) on the autumnal equinox, September 22 or 23. In the Southern Hemisphere, the dates of onset of summer and winter are reversed, as are those of spring and fall.

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▪ meteorological division

      any of four divisions of the year according to consistent annual changes in the weather. The seasons—winter, spring, summer, and autumn—are commonly regarded in the Northern Hemisphere as beginning on the winter solstice, December 22 or 23; the vernal equinox, March 20 or 21; the summer solstice, June 21 or 22; and the autumnal equinox, September 22 or 23, respectively (at the equinoxes, the days (day) and nights are equal in length; at the winter solstice the day is the year's shortest, and at the summer solstice it is the year's longest). In the Southern Hemisphere, summer and winter are reversed, as are spring and fall.

      Outside the tropics and the polar regions, the essential characteristic of the annual cycle is a temperature oscillation between a single maximum and a single minimum. This oscillation results from the annual variation in the angle at which the Sun's rays reach the Earth's surface and from the annual variation in the duration of sunlight on the Earth's surface each day. As the Earth moves in its orbit around the Sun, its axis maintains a nearly constant orientation in space, inclined about 66°33′ to the orbital plane. During the six-month half of each orbit when the North Pole is inclined toward the Sun, a point in the Northern Hemisphere receives the Sun's rays at an angle closer to 90° than does a point in the Southern Hemisphere; this causes greater heating and more hours of daylight in the Northern Hemisphere than in the Southern Hemisphere. During the other six months, these conditions are reversed. (See the Figure.)

      In polar latitudes (latitude and longitude), the seasons consist of a short summer and a long winter; this division is based primarily on sunlight, as there is continuous darkness all winter and continuous daylight or twilight all summer. In low latitudes, where the range of the annual insolation (receipt of solar radiation) and temperature cycle is very small, seasonal weather variations are based largely on rainy and dry periods. These moisture variations result from the movements of the intertropical convergence zone, a narrow belt of abundant precipitation that encircles the Earth near the equator. It shifts north and south seasonally with the Sun and causes the areas it crosses to have alternating wet and dry seasons; those regions very near the equator that are crossed twice each year by this belt have two wet and two dry seasons.

      In India, a marked seasonal alternation of rainfall and drought, caused by the monsoon, extends northward into latitudes where distinct temperature seasons also exist. The result is a cool, dry season from December through February; a hot, dry season from March through mid-June; and a rainy season from mid-June through November.

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