Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Frost?

\Frost\, n. [OE. frost, forst, AS. forst, frost. fr. fre['o]san to freeze; akin to D. varst, G., OHG., Icel., Dan., & Sw. frost. [root]18. See {Freeze}, v. i.] 1. The act of freezing; -- applied chiefly to the congelation of water; congelation of fluids. 2. The state or temperature of the air which occasions congelation, or the freezing of water; severe cold or freezing weather. The third bay comes a frost, a killing frost. --Shak. 3. Frozen dew; -- called also {hoarfrost} or {white frost}. He scattereth the frost like ashes. --Ps. cxlvii. 16. 4. Coldness or insensibility; severity or rigidity of character. [R.] It was of those moments of intense feeling when the frost of the Scottish people melts like a snow wreath. --Sir W. Scott. {Black frost}, cold so intense as to freeze vegetation and cause it to turn black, without the formation of hoarfrost. {Frost bearer} (Physics), a philosophical instrument illustrating the freezing of water in a vacuum; a cryophous. {Frost grape} (Bot.), an American grape, with very small, acid berries. {Frost lamp}, a lamp placed below the oil tube of an Argand lamp to keep the oil limpid on cold nights; -- used especially in lighthouses. --Knight. {Frost nail}, a nail with a sharp head driven into a horse's shoe to keen him from slipping. {Frost smoke}, an appearance resembling smoke, caused by congelation of vapor in the atmosphere in time of severe cold. The brig and the ice round her are covered by a strange black obscurity: it is the frost smoke of arctic winters. --Kane. {Frost valve}, a valve to drain the portion of a pipe, hydrant, pump, etc., where water would be liable to freeze. {Jack Frost}, a popular personification of frost.
\Frost\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Frostted}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Frosting}.] 1. To injure by frost; to freeze, as plants. 2. To cover with hoarfrost; to produce a surface resembling frost upon, as upon cake, metals, or glass. While with a hoary light she frosts the ground. --Wordsworth. 3. To roughen or sharpen, as the nail heads or calks of horseshoes, so as to fit them for frosty weather.