vernal equinox
 春分


 ver·nal a.
 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.

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 E·qui·nox n.
 1. The time when the sun enters one of the equinoctial points, that is, about March 21 and September 22. See Autumnal equinox, Vernal equinox, under Autumnal and Vernal.
 When descends on the Atlantic
 The gigantic
 Stormwind of the equinox.   --Longfellow.
 2. Equinoctial wind or storm. [R.]

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 vernal equinox
      n 1: March 21 [syn: March equinox, spring equinox] [ant: {autumnal
           equinox]
      2: (astronomy) the equinoctial point that lies in the
         constellation of Pisces