What it means
A snowbird is someone, often a retiree, who bails on the Canadian winter and spends a few months somewhere sunny like Florida or Arizona. Think condos, golf courses, and an RV stuffed with sunscreen while everyone back home is scraping ice off the windshield. Not a bird, just a seasonal escape artist with a tan.
Usage examples
"Once the first real dump of snow hit, the neighbours locked up the cottage, packed the RV, and headed to Florida for the winter, eh."
"My grandparents are snowbirds, they spend every winter in Florida and come back in April."
"Half the campground in Arizona is snowbirds escaping the Canadian cold."
"You can tell the snowbirds are back when every patio in Fort Myers is full by noon and half the accents are Canadian."
"Aunt Linda turns into a full snowbird every January, posts palm trees for three months, then rolls back home acting like winter never happened."
Where it comes from
It comes from the literal bird image. In North American English, a snowbird is a bird linked with snow country or seasonal movement, and by the 20th century people were using it for folks who head south when winter bites. In Canada and the northern US, it stuck hard for retirees doing the annual warm-weather escape.
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