hiber-

(Latin: winter, wintered, wintry; it also refers to: sleep, sleeping; inactive, inactivity; dormant, dormancy [suspended animation or a lack of activity])

artificial hibernation (s) (noun), artificial hibernations (pl)
1. A deep stupor or unconsciousness and reduced organic activity resembling the natural state of motionless exhibited by certain animal species during winter: One use of artificial hibernation is the therapeutically produced medical condition that is caused by the use of drugs alone or drugs and hypothermia which greatly reduces the metabolic state (body activities) during surgical procedures; such as, open heart surgery.
2. The act of retiring into quiescence: The author emerged from his artificial hibernation to produce his first book after several years.
3. A condition of the retarded vital activity of an organism in warm-blooded animals, including humans, which is created in a simulated way, similar to the condition of an organism during the winter: Artificial hibernation can be created through nerve-blocking techniques which stop the neural and endocrine mechanisms of bodily thermoregulation or heat regulation.
hibernacle (s) (noun), hibernacles (pl)
1. A place which serves as protection, or shelter, in very cold months of the year: They are the winter refuges; such as, the hibernacle of an animal or a plant.
2. In botany, the winter quarters of a plant: A bulb or a bud in which the embryo of a future plant is in a hibernacle or it is in an enclosed scaly covering that protects it from damage during the very chilly time during fall, winter and spring.
hibernaculum (s) (noun), hibernacula (pl)
1. The domicile, shelter, or place in which an animal stays in an inert or sleeping condition during the cold part of the year: The situation of a hedgehog, which is snug in its hibernaculum under layers of snow, should cause little concern for a naturalist.
2. A protective case, covering, or structure; such as, a plant bud, in which an organism remains dormant for the winter: Even plants have their forms of hibernacula that protect them during the months between October and March.
3. The winter den, or home, of sleeping animals or insects during this time: There are various hibernacula for creatures that have latent or sleeping periods; such as, bears, bats, and insects.
hibernal (adjective), more hibernal, most hibernal
1. An indication of the season of the year known as winter: There are many hibernal plants and animals that exist in nature.
2. Relating to or occurring during the chilly seasons: Hibernal conditions include winter torpor (inactivity and lack of vigor or energy) in reptiles and winter lethargy (sluggishness) in larger mammals; such as, bears, badgers, skunks, and raccoons.
Winter time.
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Wintry period.
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hibernate (verb), hibernates; hibernated; hibernating
1. To spend the part of a year; especially, between autumn and spring, in a status of sleep or in a condition of quiescence: When a mammal hibernates, its breathing is almost imperceptible, and all of the chemical activities of the body go on very slowly, as it uses food that is stored; such as, fat and glycogen which is stored primarily in the liver and broken down into glucose which is a simple sugar that is the primary source of energy when it is needed by the body.

Snapping turtles hibernate deep in the mud at the bottoms of ponds and they stay there until spring comes.

Slugs hibernate by boring into the ground and secrete a mucus mantle around themselves for protection during periods of unfavorable-environmental wintery conditions.

2. To be in a state of inertness resembling sleep during the very cold season while living off the reserves of body fat, with a decrease in body temperature and pulse rate, and slower metabolism: Animals that hibernate include bears, bats; as well as, many amphibians.

3. To become less active; especially, by staying at home rather than going out to socialize: There are some people, including Jake's neighbor Jane, who like hibernating in their houses or apartments with as little contact as possible with other people.

The old man chose to hibernate or to live in seclusion after he retired from his job.

4. To spend the very chilly season in a place with a milder climate: Each winter Susan's friends hibernate in Florida or Hawaii.
5. Etymology: from Latin hibernare, "to winter" and Latin hiems was also related to other "winter" or "snow" words; such as, Greek kheima.

The Himalayas are etymologically the "snowy" mountains.

To pass the winter in a dormant condition.
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hibernated (adjective), more hibernated, most hibernated
Relating to creatures that have spent the months between fall and spring in a condition that is similar to sleep: The hibernated bears usually stay in their caves until early spring.
hibernating (adjective), more hibernating, most hibernating
1. In a state of suspended animation or inactivity: Hibernating animals spend the winter in some kind of shelter in a dormant condition.
2. A reference to anyone who withdraws or lives in seclusion away from other people: The hibernating man stayed away from any contact with anyone except when it was absolutely necessary.
hibernating spacecraft (s) (noun), hibernating spacecrafts (pl)
An orbiting spacecraft that has its power plant shut down is reactivated only when signaled from ground control: Space experts conserve energy for hibernating spacecrafts instead of leaving the power on all the time.
hibernation (s) (noun), hibernations (pl)
1. A dormant or inactive state resembling deep slumber in which certain animals living in cold areas pass the chilly season with a significant reduction in body temperature and metabolism: There are hibernations that include creatures with physiological conditions that respond to frosty winter conditions; not only bears and some bats; but also, snakes, frogs, and a few turtles.
2. A motionless, sleep-like condition characterized by lower body temperature and reduced energy consumption; as well as, heart and breathing rates: In certain climates, snakes find holes or cracks when autumn comes and they sleep in these places in hibernation during the winter; then, when they come out of hibernation, they start hunting for food.

In the course of hibernation, arctic lemmings are able to avoid severity of iciness by confining their life during winter to activities beneath the snow cover.

Some insects go into hibernation as eggs, larvae, nymphs, pupas, or adults. Since they can stand very low temperatures, few of these forms die if the bleak temperatures are within their normal range.

Even rather fragile creatures; such as, some butterflies are able to survive the frosty air in low shrubbery, where they may be completely covered by snow and ice for three or four months of hibernation.

Winter hibernations among reptiles are similar to the hibernations of mammals; however, instead of experiencing long, sustained periods of inertness, some hibernating reptiles move around occasionally to drink water; but they may go without food for several months.

When adders (nonvenomous snakes, such as the milk snake) experience temperatures of about 8°–10° C (46°–50° F), they start to look for suitable places in which to survive. Since these conditions vary, the adders' periods of hibernation extends from 275 days in northern Europe to 105 days in southern Europe, and it is about two weeks in the United Kingdom, where the Gulf Stream provides warmer conditions.

The term hibernation is often loosely used to indicate any state of sustained torpor, inactivity, or dormancy that an organism might exhibit; however, use of the term should be confined only to warm-blooded homoiotherms—i.e., birds and mammals whose feathers or fur serve as insulation to reduce heat radiating from the body and aid in the maintenance of constant body temperatures, which normally are independent of those of the environment.

Hibernation and sleep are somewhat similar in that essential body processes continue during both periods at a lowered level. In sleep, the heart beats less rapidly, and breathing is slower; the body produces less heat, making it necessary for a sleeping person to be protected from the cold with adequate covers.

—Compiled from information located in
"Hibernation and Estivation by
Cold-Blooded Vertebrates and Invertebrates";
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Volume 11;
William Benton, Publisher; Chicago; 1968; page 473.

This Hibernation link has much more interesting information about this topic.

hibernation mode (s) (noun), hibernation modes (pl)
A power-down mode in a computer that provides a quicker start up than usual when turned on again: The hibernation mode eliminates the need to reboot the operating system from a complete shut down, which often takes much longer.
hibernation-inducing trigger (s) (noun), hibernation-inducing triggers (pl)
A substance present in the blood of animals that begins the unconscious or sleep-like condition of certain animals during the season between fall and spring in cold climes: Some biochemists believe that there are certain bodily chemicals that cause hibernation-inducing triggers that put some animals into a sleeping condition when it starts to be cold.
hibernator (s) (noun), hibernators (pl)
Any animal which slumbers through the winter: Cold-blooded hibernators, and even warm-blooded hibernators, can survive even with a significant reduction of their body temperatures.
hibernoma (s) (noun); hibernomas, hibernomata (pl)
A rare kind of benign (harmless) tumor that some people have, consisting of brown fat that contains fetal fat tissue closely resembling the fat stored in the foot pads of hibernating animals: Hibernoma usually involves the shoulder and neck region of young adults.

The term hibernoma is also called: "fetal fat cell lipoma", "lipoma fetalocellulare", or "brown fat tumor".

Cross references of word families that are related directly or indirectly to "winter, freezing, frost, and/or cold": algid- (cold, chilly); cheimo-, chimo- (winter, cold); crymo-, krymo- (cold, chill, frost); cryo-, kryo-; (cold, freezing); pago- (cold, freezing); psychro- (cold); rhigo- (cold, frost; shiver).