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Webster 1913 Edition

vernal

ver′nal

(vẽr′nal)
,
Adj.
[L.
vernalis
, fr.
vernus
vernal,
ver
spring; akin to Gr.
ἔαρ
, Skr.
vasanta
, Icel.
vār
, and E.
Easter
,
east
.]
1.
Of or pertaining to the spring; appearing in the spring;
as,
vernal
bloom
.
And purple all the ground with
vernal
flowers.
Milton.
2.
Fig.: Belonging to youth, the spring of life.
When after the long
vernal
day of life.
Thomson.
And seems it hard thy
vernal
years
Few
vernal
joys can show?
Keble.
Vernal equinox
(Astron.)
,
the point of time in each year when the sun crosses the equator when proceeding northward, about March 21, when day and night are of approximately equal duration. The beginning of the Spring season.
–
Vernal grass
(Bot.)
,
a low, soft grass (
Anthoxanthum odoratum
), producing in the spring narrow spikelike panicles, and noted for the delicious fragrance which it gives to new-mown hay; – also called
sweet vernal grass
. See Illust. in Appendix.
–
Vernal signs
(Astron.)
,
the signs, Aries, Taurus, and Gemini, in which the sun appears between the vernal equinox and summer solstice.

Webster 1828 Edition

Vernal

VER'NAL

,
Adj.
[L. vernalis, from ver, spring.]
1.
Belonging to the spring; appearing in spring; as vernal bloom.
Vernal flowers are preparatives to autumnal fruits.
2.
Belonging to youth, the spring of life.
Vernal signs, the signs in which the sun appears in the spring.
Vernal equinox, the equinox in spring or March; opposed to the autumnal equnox, in September.

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