frost

Meaning

Noun

1. A cover of minute ice crystals on objects that are exposed to the air. Frost is formed by the same process as dew, except that the temperature of the frosted object is below freezing.
2. The cold weather that causes these ice crystals to form.
3. Coldness or insensibility; severity or rigidity of character.
4. (obsolete) The act of freezing; the congelation of water or other liquid.
5. A shade of white, like that of frost.
6. (slang) A disappointment; a cheat.
7. A kind of light diffuser.

Verb

1. To cover with frost.
2. To become covered with frost.
3. To coat (something, e.g. a cake) with icing to resemble frost.
4. (informal) To anger or annoy.
5. To sharpen (the points of a horse's shoe) to prevent it from slipping on ice.
6. To bleach individual strands of hair while leaving adjacent strands untouched.

Synonyms

freeze

hoarfrost

rime

ice

🧊

cold

🥶

hoar

coldness

dew

freezing cold

snow

❄️

glaze

frostiness

frigidity

chill

nip

chilliness

icicles

iciness

icing

gelidity

coolness

frozeness

bitterness

intensely cold weather

night frost

hoar frost

glaciation

freezing

bitter cold

unfriendliness

white frost

bespeckle

freeze out

freezing weather

frost-bite

ground frost

freeze down

mild weather

dull polish

hard rime

bespot

frozen subsoil

biting cold

chafe

cold wave

congelation

crystallized

drizzle

enrobe

failure

file

fleck

fog

🌫️

gel

ice up

incrust

jelly

mist

mottle

patch

refrigerate

rub

severity

sludge

speckle

splash

stipple

strike

stripe

sugarcoat

Pronounced as (IPA)

/fɹɒst/

Etymology

From Middle English frost, from an unmetathesized variant of Old English forst (“frost”), from Proto-Germanic *frustaz (“frost”), from Proto-Indo-European *prews- (“to freeze; frost”). Cognate with West Frisian froast (“frost”), Dutch vorst (“frost”), German Frost (“frost”), Swedish frost (“frost”), Norwegian frost (“frost”), Icelandic frost (“frost”), Latin pruīna (“hoarfrost, frost, rime, snow”). Related to freeze.