WINTER

, one of the four seasons or quarters of the year.

Winter properly commences on the day when the sun's distance from the zenith of the place is the greatest, or when his declination is the greatest on the contrary side of the equator; and it ends on the day when that distance is a mean between the greatest and least, or when he next crosses the equinoctial.

At and near the equator, the Winter, as well as the other seasons, return twice every year; but all other places have only one Winter in the year; which in the northern hemisphere begins when the sun is in the tropic of Capricorn, and in the southern hemisphere when he is in the tropic of Cancer: so that all places in the same hemisphere have their Winter at the same time.

Notwithstanding the coldness of this season it is proved in astronomy, that the sun is really nearer to the earth in our Winter than in summer: the reason of the | defect of heat being owing to the lowness of the sun, or to the obliquity of his rays.