WordWeight : Weighing the Words

Pronunciation : Frost
Part of Speech : n.
Etymology : [OE. frost, forst, AS. forst, frost. fr. fre?san to freeze; akin to D. varst, G., OHG., Icel., Dan., & Sw. frost. *18. See Freeze, v. i.]
Definition : 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.
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913

Pronunciation : Frost
Part of Speech : v.
Definition : 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.

t. [imp. & p. p. Frostted; p. pr. & vb. n. Frosting.]
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913