1. Home
2. Idioms
3. in season

in season

---

---

in season

 

1. [of a game animal] subject to legal hunting. You cannot shoot ducks. They are not in season.

2. [of a female animal] ready to breed; in estrus; in heat. The cat's in season again.

3. to be currently available for selling. (Some foods and other things are available only at certain seasons. *Typically: be ~; come [into] ~.) Oysters are available in season. Strawberries aren't in season in January.

See also: season

in season

1. available fresh locally Strawberries are in season here in May and June.

Usage notes: usually said about food

2. at the time of year when something is popular In season, the rooms with an ocean view are more than $300 a night.

3. at the time of year when hunting or fishing is legal Trout are now in season, which means the rivers are full of people fishing.

Opposite of: out of season

See also: season

in season

1. At the right time, opportunely, as in "The two young men desired to get back again in good season" (Charles Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit, 1844).

2. Available and ready for eating, or other use; also, legal for hunting or fishing. For example, Strawberries are now in season, or Let me know when trout are in season and I'll go fishing with you. Both usages date from the 1300s, as does the antonym out of season, used for "inopportunely," "unavailable," and also for "not in fashion." For example, Sorry, oysters are out of season this month, or This style used to be very popular, but it's been out of season for several years.

See also: season

in season

1. Available or ready for eating or other use.

2. Legally permitted to be caught or hunted during a specified period.

3. At the right moment; opportunely.

4. In heat. Used of animals.

See also: season