HIBERNATING

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does hibernating mean? 

• HIBERNATING (adjective)
  The adjective HIBERNATING has 1 sense:

1. in a condition of biological rest or suspended animation

  Familiarity information: HIBERNATING used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• HIBERNATING (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

In a condition of biological rest or suspended animation

Synonyms:

dormant; hibernating; torpid

Context example:

torpid frogs

Similar:

asleep (in a state of sleep)

Domain category:

biological science; biology (the science that studies living organisms)

 Context examples 

The researchers then treated non-hibernating cells prior to cold exposure with two drugs to alter the course of the cold-induced damage.

(Researchers develop “hibernation in a dish” to study how animals adapt to the cold, National Institutes of Health)

WNS caused a 10-fold decrease in colony sizes of hibernating bats in eastern North America.

(Hibernation season over, will disease-ridden bats emerge from caves and mines this spring?, NSF)

Brown-colored adipose tissue that is present in higher concentrations in newborns and hibernating animals.

(Brown Adipose Tissue, NCI Thesaurus)

We all have some brown fat – or brown adipose tissue, as it is also known – in our bodies, but it is found most abundantly in newborns and in hibernating animals (where the heat produced by brown fat enables them to survive even in freezing temperatures).

(Study in mice suggests drug to turn fat ‘brown’ could help fight obesity, University of Cambridge)

They found that in ground squirrel neurons the microtubule cytoskeleton remains intact while it deteriorates in the neurons of humans and other non-hibernating animals, including rats.

(Researchers develop “hibernation in a dish” to study how animals adapt to the cold, National Institutes of Health)