frost

English

 frost on Wikipedia

Alternative forms

• froste (obsolete)

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.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /fɹɒst/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /fɹɔst/
• (cot–caught merger, Canada) IPA^(key): /fɹɑst/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒst, -ɔːst

Noun

frost (countable and uncountable, plural frosts)

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.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible,  (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, Genesis 31:40:

     Thus I was; in the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night; and my sleep departed from mine eyes.

   • 1748, David Hume, Enquiries concerning the human understanding and concerning the principles of moral., London: Oxford University Press, published 1973, § 47:

     It is more probable, in almost every country of Europe, that there will be frost sometime in January, than that the weather will continue open throughout that whole month;

3. (figurative) Coldness or insensibility; severity or rigidity of character.
   • 1815 February 24, [Walter Scott], Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer. , volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: James Ballantyne and Co. for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, ; and Archibald Constable and Co., , →OCLC:

     It was one of those moments of intense feeling when the frost of the Scottish people melts like a snow-wreath.

4. (obsolete) The act of freezing; the congelation of water or other liquid.
5. A shade of white, like that of frost.

   frost:  

6. (slang, dated) A disappointment; a cheat.
7. (television) A kind of light diffuser.
   • 2013, Alan Bermingham, Location Lighting for Television, pages 9–26:

     Frosts and diffusion are flame retardant and produce similar results except that some of the frosts are very subtle in their effects. For example: Hamburg Frost will soften the beam edge with little additional spread of the beam.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

frost (third-person singular simple present frosts, present participle frosting, simple past and past participle frosted)

1. (transitive) To cover with frost.
2. (intransitive) To become covered with frost.
   • 1975, Brian W. Blouet, Merlin P. Lawson, editors, Images of the Plains: The Role of Human Nature in Settlement, University of Nebraska Press, page 142:

     “The weather is pleasant while it frosted a little at night.”

3. (transitive) To coat (something, e.g. a cake) with icing to resemble frost.
4. (transitive, informal) To anger or annoy.

   I think the boss's decision frosted him a bit.

5. (transitive) To sharpen (the points of a horse's shoe) to prevent it from slipping on ice.
6. (transitive) To bleach individual strands of hair while leaving adjacent strands untouched.

Derived terms

• frosting

Translations

Anagrams

• forts, frots

Danish

Etymology

From Old Norse frost.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /frɔst/,

Noun

frost c (singular definite frosten, not used in plural form)

1. frost

Declension

References

• “frost” in Den Danske Ordbog

Icelandic

Etymology

From Old Norse frost.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /frɔst/
• Rhymes: -ɔst

Noun

frost n (genitive singular frosts, nominative plural frost)

1. frost

Declension

See also

• kuldi

Middle English

Alternative forms

• forst, froste, vrost, frosst, freost

Etymology

From Old English frost, forst, from Proto-West Germanic *frost, from Proto-Germanic *frustaz, *frustą; akin to Middle Dutch vorst, Middle High German vrost, Middle Low German vrost, and Old Swedish frost.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /frɔst/, /fɔrst/

Noun

frost (plural frostes)

1. Cold or freezing weather; weather causing frost.
2. Frost or rime; frozen dew or water droplets.
3. Hail; precipitation below freezing temperature.
4. (rare, figurative) Something with a chilling effect.

Derived terms

• frosty

Descendants

• English: frost
• Scots: frost
• Yola: vrosth, vroste, vrast

References

• “frost, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-10-31.

Norwegian Bokmål

Norwegian Wikipedia has an article on:

frost

Wikipedia ^no

Etymology

From Old Norse frost n.

Noun

frost m (definite singular frosten)

1. frost

Derived terms

• frostsikker
• frostvæske
• rimfrost

References

• “frost” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Old Norse frost n.

Noun

frost m (definite singular frosten)

1. frost

Derived terms

• frostsikker
• frostvæske
• rimfrost

References

• “frost” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Old High German

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *frustą, *frustaz, akin to Old English frost, Old Norse frost.

Noun

frost m

1. frost

Declension

Derived terms

• gruntfrost

Descendants

• Middle High German: vrost
  • Cimbrian: vròst, bròst, vrost
  • German: Frost
  • Luxembourgish: Frascht
  • Vilamovian: fröst

Old Norse

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *frustą, *frustaz, akin to Old English frost, Old High German frost.

Noun

frost n

1. frost

Descendants

• Icelandic: frost
• Faroese: frost, frostur m (masculine is archaic)
• Norwegian: frost
• Old Swedish: frost
  • Swedish: frost
• Danish: frost

References

• “frost”, in Geir T. Zoëga (1910) A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press

Swedish

Etymology

From Old Norse frost, from Proto-Germanic *frustą, *frustaz.

Pronunciation

• audio

  (file)

Noun

frost c

1. frost

Declension

Anagrams

• forst-, forts