blizzard
blizzard Lexical Profile
blizzard Game Scores & Validity
• noun
A severe, prolonged snowstorm characterized by strong sustained winds, low temperatures, and poor visibility due to falling or blowing snow.
"All flights out of Chicago were canceled when a sudden blizzard swept across the Midwest."
An overwhelming, sudden, or abundant rush of things arriving all at once.
"The customer service department was overwhelmed by a blizzard of complaints after the software update failed."
• verb
To snow fiercely with strong, driving winds and near-zero visibility (used with an impersonal 'it').
"It blizzarded all through the night, burying the cabin's front porch under four feet of snowdrifts."
• Rhymes for blizzard
Word Origin & Etymology
Originating in 19th-century American English, the word initially meant a sharp blow or a volley of gunfire before being applied to a severe snowstorm in the 1870s, likely formed as an onomatopoeic blend of 'blaze' and 'gizzard' or derived from dialectal British 'blizzer'.