frost

Definitions

1. 1.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.
2. 2.Frozen dew; -- called also hoarfrost or white frost. He scattereth the frost like ashes. Ps. cxlvii.
3. 3.4. 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.
4. 4.To injure by frost; to freeze, as plants.
5. 5.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.
6. 6.To roughen or sharpen, as the nail heads or calks of horseshoes, so as to fit them for frosty weather.

Source: Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).

Related questions

• What does "frost" mean?

Reverse-dictionary questions

Definition-first questions whose answer is frost.

• What is 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 called?
• What is frozen dew; -- called also hoarfrost or white frost. He scattereth the frost like ashes. Ps. cxlvii called?
• What is to injure by frost; to freeze, as plants called?
• What is 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 called?
• What is to roughen or sharpen, as the nail heads or calks of horseshoes, so as to fit them for frosty weather called?