Meaning & use
winterising
Last updated
“winterising” is a form of “winterise”. See that entry for the full set of meanings.
Meanings
verbtransitive
Preparing a house, car, boat or garden so that cold weather will not damage it.
Grammar: Takes an object: we are winterising the cabin.
Patterns
- winterise something
- winterise something against something
We spent the weekend winterising the summer cottage and draining all the pipes.
He is winterising the car by checking the antifreeze and fitting new tyres.
Winterising your garden includes covering tender plants and clearing the gutters.
noununcountable
The work or process of getting something ready for the cold season.
Grammar: Used without an or plural: winterising takes a full day.
Patterns
- the winterising of something
The winterising of the boat should happen before the first frost.
Winterising is the least enjoyable part of owning a holiday home.
A little winterising now will save expensive repairs in January.
Word forms
| base form | winterise |
|---|---|
| third person singular | winterises |
| past tense | winterised |
| -ing form | winterising |
Common combinations
- winterising a house
- Winterising a house includes insulating the loft.
- winterising the garden
- She is winterising the garden by mulching the beds.
- winterising the car
- Winterising the car means checking the battery.
- winterising the pipes
- Winterising the pipes prevents them from bursting.
- start winterising
- We usually start winterising in late October.
Synonyms and how they differ
- weatherproofing
- Weatherproofing protects against all weather, such as rain and wind, while winterising is about the cold season only.
- insulating
- Insulating is one specific job within winterising, namely keeping heat in.
- cold-proofing
- Cold-proofing is an uncommon and less natural term for the same idea.
Opposites
Word family
- winterise verb
- to prepare something for winter
- winterised adjective
- made ready for winter
- winterization noun
- the American spelling for the process of winterising
- winter noun
- the coldest season of the year
Commonly confused: winterising or wintering?
winterising vs wintering
Wintering means spending the winter somewhere, as birds or people do, rather than preparing a thing for winter.
Practice
Before leaving the cabin for the season, we spent a day ____ the water pipes.
Choose one answer.
Winterising takes an object and means preparing something for the cold. Wintering means spending the winter somewhere, and winterised is the wrong form after spent a day.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “winterising”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.