Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Of or relating to the north; northern.
  • adjective Of or concerning the north wind.
  • adjective Of or relating to the forest areas of the northern North Temperate Zone, dominated by coniferous trees such as spruce, fir, and pine.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Pertaining to, situated in, or issuing from the north; relating or pertaining to the north or to the north wind; northern.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Northern; pertaining to the north, or to the north wind.
  • adjective (Biogeography) Designating or pertaining to a terrestrial division consisting of the northern and mountainous parts of both the Old and the New World; -- equivalent to the Holarctic region exclusive of the Transition, Sonoran, and corresponding areas. The term is used by American authors and applied by them chiefly to the Nearctic subregion. The Boreal region includes approximately all of North and Central America in which the mean temperature of the hottest season does not exceed 18° C. (= 64.4° F.). Its subdivisions are the Arctic zone and Boreal zone, the latter including the area between the Arctic and Transition zones.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Of, relating to, or coming from the north.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective comprising or throughout far northern regions
  • adjective toward or located in the north
  • adjective relating to or marked by qualities associated with the north wind

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Late Latin Boreālis, from Latin Boreās, Boreas; see Boreas.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin boreālis ("northern"), from Boreās, from Ancient Greek Βορέας (Boreās, "personification of the north wind").

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Examples

  • Linda told him with amazing inanity that his opinion of her was unreliable; and, contented, he lightly pursued his admiration of what he called her boreal charm.

    Linda Condon Joseph Hergesheimer 1917

  • "You forget the light which we call boreal," said the ecclesiastic.

    Bouvard and Pécuchet A Tragi-comic Novel of Bourgeois Life Gustave Flaubert 1850

  • New research aimed at understanding the link between carbon dioxide emissions and climate change in boreal systems has found clear links between both spring and fall temperature changes and carbon uptake/loss.

    February 18th, 2007 2007

  • New evidence of the link between carbon dioxide emissions and climate change in boreal ecosystems

    February 18th, 2007 2007

  • A simulated instantaneous 2 °C increase in average growing-season temperature was applied with two different precipitation regimes (a 20% increase and a 20% decrease from current precipitation levels) to explore the possible influence of climate change on long-term boreal forest ecosystem dynamics.

    Climate change and fire in the Arctic 2009

  • The subarctic climate zone coincides with a great belt of needleleaf forest, often referred to as boreal forest, and with the open lichen woodland known as tayga.

    Subarctic Division (Bailey) 2009

  • This climate is classified as boreal southern Cordilleran.

    Alberta-British Columbia foothills forests 2008

  • The combination of warming temperatures and the fertilizing effect of increased carbon in the atmosphere could fuel a northward expansion of what is known as the boreal forest, the coniferous timber lands that run across the earth's northern latitudes and include forests in Canada, Finland, Russia and Sweden.

    Rainforest Portal RSS Newsfeed 2009

  • Low-diversity biomes (such as boreal forest and tundra) have low species richness and low threat rates and have experienced little conversion.

    Ecosystems and Human Well-being~ Biodiversity Synthesis~ Key Questions on Biodiversity in the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2008

  • (Oct. 29, 2008) - How best to map 'boreal' or northern forest with space-borne radar is the focus of an ESA campaign currently underway in northern Sweden.

    unknown title 2009

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