DCHP-1 Online
banana belt 
1 a region reputed to have a relatively moderate climate (often used facetiously).
- 1897 This is a truthful pen-picture of a mid-January day in the now far-famed "banana belt" country. . . .
- 1958 We called back bantering remarks about the softness of his summer's work in the "banana belt."
- 1965 The weather office said that the Arctic temperatures and snow that changed Canada's winter banana belt [south-western B.C.] to one of its unhappiest regions are moving inland.
2 North the more populated, southerly regions of Canada; outside (def. 1).
See also: outside ((n.)) (def. 1)
- 1913 (1914) Somebody facetiously remarks it looks mighty like snow to him outside and we haven't reached the banana belt yet.
- 1958 [Yellowknife's] social life is amazingly active, and its climate, to the surprise of banana belt visitors, is not as severe as rumored.
- 1962 Churchill's nearest neighbor, Thompson, is almost indistinguishable from a suburb in the banana belt.
- 1897 This is a truthful pen-picture of a mid-January day in the now far-famed "banana belt" country. . . .