alpine

See also: Alpine

English

Etymology

From Latin Alpīnus, from Alpēs (“the Alps”). Cognates include French alpin.

Pronunciation

  • (US) IPA(key): /ˈæl.paɪn/
    • Audio (Southern England):(file)
  • (obsolete) IPA(key): /ˈæl.pɪn/[1]

Adjective

alpine (comparative more alpine, superlative most alpine)

  2. Of, relating to, or inhabiting mountains, especially above the timberline.
    Synonym: montane
    alpine snows;   alpine plants
    • 1910, William Robinson, “Forewords to new edition”, in Alpine Flowers for Gardens: Rock, Wall, Marsh Plants, and Mountain Shrubs‎[2], 4th edition, John Murray, page ix-x:
      What are alpine plants? The word alpine is used to denote the plants that grow naturally on all high mountain-chains, whether they spring from hot tropical plains or from green northern pastures. Above the cultivated land these flowers begin to occur on the fringes of the stately woods; they are seen in multitudes in the vast pastures which clothe many great mountain-chains, enamelling their soft verdure; and also where neither grass nor loose herbage can exist; or where feeble world-heat is quenched and mountains are crumbled into ghastly slopes of shattered rock by the contending forces of heat and cold, even there, amid the glaciers, they spring from Nature's ruined battle-ground, as if the mother of earth-life had sent up her loveliest children to plead with the spirits of destruction. Alpine plants fringe the vast fields of snow and ice of the high mountains, and at great elevations have often scarcely time to flower and ripen a few seeds before they are again imbedded in the snow; […]
    2. (sometimes specifically) Alternative letter-case form of Alpine: Of, relating to, or inhabiting the Alps, a large mountain range in Europe.
      Hypernym: montane
  3. (skiing) Of or relating to slalom and downhill skiing.
    Coordinate term: Nordic

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

alpine (plural alpines)

  1. (botany) Any of several plants, native to mountain habitats, often grown in rock gardens.
    • 1991, Jack Elliott, Alpines in the Open Garden, Christopher Helm, →ISBN, page 64:
      There can be little doubt that the autumn-flowering gentians are the elite of late-flowering alpines, but alas they can only be enjoyed by those gardeners with an acid soil, unless they can be grown in containers.

Translations

References

  1. ^ Hurd, Seth P. (1847), “Alpine”, in “False Pronunciation”, in A Grammatical Corrector; or, A Vocabulary of the Common Errors of Speech‎[1], Philadelphia: E. H. Butler & Co, →OCLC, page 78.

Anagrams

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from French alpin, alpine.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˌɑlˈpi.nə/
  • Audio:(file)
  • Hyphenation: al‧pi‧ne
  • Rhymes: -inə

Adjective

alpine (comparative alpiner, superlative meest alpine or alpinest)

  1. alternative form of alpien

Declension

Declension of alpine
uninflected alpine
inflected alpine
comparative alpiner
positive comparative superlative
predicative/adverbial alpine alpiner het alpinest
het alpineste
indefinite m./f. sing. alpine alpinere alpineste
n. sing. alpine alpiner alpineste
plural alpine alpinere alpineste
definite alpine alpinere alpineste
partitive alpines alpiners —

Derived terms

Anagrams

French

Pronunciation

Adjective

alpine

  1. feminine singular of alpin

German

Pronunciation

Adjective

alpine

  1. inflection of alpin:
    1. strong/mixed nominative/accusative feminine singular
    2. strong nominative/accusative plural
    3. weak nominative all-gender singular
    4. weak accusative feminine/neuter singular

Italian

Adjective

alpine f pl

  1. feminine plural of alpino

Anagrams

Latin

Adjective

alpīne

  1. vocative masculine singular of alpīnus
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