Meaning
A short, sudden spell of unusually cold weather, arriving abruptly and usually easing within a few days. The noun snap supplies the sharpness of the image: a quick, biting taste of winter rather than a long, sustained freeze. Neutral register, at home in forecasts and everyday speech. Because a snap implies brevity and suddenness, it fits poorly with a long hard freeze; cold spell or cold wave serve better for duration. Reference works disagree modestly on first use, from the 1770s to the early 1800s. Regional use: All major English varieties.
Origin
A compound of cold and snap. The noun snap had meant a quick, sudden bite or cut since the 1500s (Etymonline dates it 1550s, perhaps late 15th century), and the same entry records the weather sense - a brief or sudden spell of weather, usually cold - from 1740. The fixed collocation cold snap follows soon after: the OED's earliest evidence is from 1776, in the writing of T. Smith, and its entry range runs 1776-. OED frequency data shows the phrase rare before the 1830s and climbing steadily through the mid-19th century, by which time it was routine in weather reporting. Reference works differ modestly on the first date, some placing first use in the early 1800s; the securely documented record starts with the 1776 evidence.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- cold snaps
- cold spell
- cold wave
Usage Examples
- The pipes burst during the first cold snap of the season, and the plumber was booked solid for a week.
- Forecasters expect a brief cold snap to push temperatures below freezing by Thursday night.
- Farmers ran the irrigation sprinklers overnight to shield the orange trees from the cold snap.