VERNAL EQUINOX • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Vernal equinox

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/vˈərnəl ˈikwənˌɑks/ Listen

adjective

vernal adj.

Of or pertaining to the spring; appearing in the spring; as, vernal bloom. "And purple all the ground with vernal flowers."

Fig.: Belonging to youth, the spring of life. "When after the long vernal day of life." "And seems it hard thy vernal years Few vernal joys can show?"

Vernal equinox (Astron.), the point of time in each year when the sun crosses the equator when proceeding northward, about March 21, when day and night are of approximately equal duration. The beginning of the Spring season.

Vernal grass (Bot.), a low, soft grass (Anthoxanthum odoratum), producing in the spring narrow spikelike panicles, and noted for the delicious fragrance which it gives to new-mown hay; also called sweet vernal grass.

Vernal signs (Astron.), the signs, Aries, Taurus, and Gemini, in which the sun appears between the vernal equinox and summer solstice.

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Etymology of 'Vernal equinox'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Vernal equinox" Quotes from Famous Books

... forenoon, a.m., prime, dawn, daybreak; dayspring^, foreday^, sunup; peep of day, break of day; aurora; first blush of the morning, first flush of the morning, prime of the morning; twilight, crepuscule, sunrise; cockcrow, cockcrowing^; the small hours, the wee hours of the morning. spring; vernal equinox, first point of Aries. noon; midday, noonday; noontide, meridian, prime; nooning, noontime. summer, midsummer. Adj. matin, matutinal^; vernal. Adv. at sunrise &c n.; with the sun, with the lark, when the morning dawns. Phr. at shut of evening flowers [Paradise Lost]; entre chien et loup [Fr.]; ...

— Roget's Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases: Body • Roget