n. A pause or interruption in a continuous activity during winter or caused by winter weather.
2015
The period between Christmas and New Year should be called Winterregnum. I'm getting this in early this year.
2014
Creeping back on to Twitter. Hello, all. Hope the Winteregnum/Merryneum was a pleasing one for you.
2013
With the ghost of a Christmas hangover slowly receding and the directionless ennui of the Winterregnum period taking hold, what better way to make yourself feel happy than by watching what I am calling The West Derby?
2008 (earliest)
@sillygwailo I continue to hold out for "winterregnum"
For the record, here's a poem titled Winterregnum from a post dated January 19, 2004. Also, you might be wondering about the term Merryneum in the January 3, 2014 citation. It's a befuddling blend of Merry (as in Christmas) and — wait for it — perineum, the area of the body between the anus and the scrotum or vulva. Presumably people (and by "people" I mean the not insignificant tribe who apparently use this word willingly and without embarrassment) see this area of the body as a place where nothing happens, so it becomes a metaphor for the time between Christmas and New Year when nothing happens.