hibernate

(hī'bər-nāt')
intr.v., -nat·ed, -nat·ing, -nates.

1. To pass the winter in a dormant or torpid state.
2. To be in an inactive or dormant state or period.

[Latin hībernāre, hībernāt-, to winter, from hībernus, relating to winter.]

hibernation hi'ber·na'tion n.
hibernator hi'ber·na'tor n.

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A power-down mode in a computer that provides a quicker resumption of operation than normal when turned back on. It eliminates booting the operating system from scratch, which often takes a couple minutes.

When hibernation mode is activated, the contents of memory, which includes all current applications running in the computer, are saved to disk, and the computer is turned off. Either by turning the power back on or pressing any keyboard key, the previous state of memory is read from disk, and the computer appears exactly as it did before hibernation. Since the power is off in hibernation mode, it does not drain the battery. Contrast with sleep mode.

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A cynical view of the world by Ambrose Bierce

v.i.

To pass the winter season in domestic seclusion. There have been many singular popular notions about the hibernation of various animals. Many believe that the bear hibernates during the whole winter and subsists by mechanically sucking its paws. It is admitted that it comes out of its retirement in the spring so lean that it had to try twice before it can cast a shadow. Three or four centuries ago, in England, no fact was better attested than that swallows passed the winter months in the mud at the bottom of their brooks, clinging together in globular masses. They have apparently been compelled to give up the custom and account of the foulness of the brooks. Sotus Ecobius discovered in Central Asia a whole nation of people who hibernate. By some investigators, the fasting of Lent is supposed to have been originally a modified form of hibernation, to which the Church gave a religious significance; but this view was strenuously opposed by that eminent authority, Bishop Kip, who did not wish any honors denied to the memory of the Founder of his family.

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IN BRIEF: To spend the winter in a dormant state.

Many kinds of creatures hibernate for the winter, grizzly bears being the most well-known.

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The dormant state in which certain animals pass the winter, marked by narcosis and by sharp reduction in body temperature and metabolism.

• artificial h. — a state of reduced metabolism, muscle relaxation, and a twilight sleep resembling narcosis, produced by controlled inhibition of the sympathetic nervous system and causing attenuation of the homeostatic reactions of the organism. Induced hypothermia has had experimental use as an anesthetic medium for extensive surgical operations in humans.

For a list of words related to hibernation, see:

• Environment, Ecology, and Animal Behavior - hibernation: period of dormancy during time of low temperatures when metabolic processes slow to minimum

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See words rhyming with "hibernate."

Dansk (Danish)
v. intr. - ligge i dvale, overvintre

Nederlands (Dutch)
overwinteren, winterslaap doen

Français (French)
v. intr. - hiberner

Deutsch (German)
v. - Winterschlaf halten

Ελληνική (Greek)
v. - διαχειμάζω, παραχειμάζω, πέφτω/είμαι σε χειμέρια νάρκη

Italiano (Italian)
svernare, essere in letargo invernale

Português (Portuguese)
v. - hibernar, invernar

Русский (Russian)
находиться в зимней спячке, бездействовать

Español (Spanish)
v. intr. - invernar, hibernar

Svenska (Swedish)
v. - övervintra, ligga i ide (äv. bildl.)

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
过冬, 避寒, 冬眠

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
v. intr. - 過冬, 避寒, 冬眠

한국어 (Korean)
v. intr. - 동면하다, 칩거하다, 들어박히다

日本語 (Japanese)
v. - 冬眠する, 避寒する

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(فعل) يسبت يقضي فصل الشتاء بالسبات‏

עברית (Hebrew)
v. intr. - ‮ישן במשך החורף, היה לא-פעיל, חרף, התבודד‬

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