frost-work
1. Work produced by frost; esp. the delicate tracery formed on the surface of glass, etc. by frost.
| 1729 Savage Wanderer iii. 65 In Frost-work now delight the sportive kind [Fairies]. 1827 Gentl. Mag. XCVII. ii. 483, I peeped through the chamber window externally beautified by the glittering frost-work. 1862 M'Cosh Supernat. ii. i. §4. 153 The frostworks on our flag-stones, and windows, so like the tree in their ramifications. |
| fig. 1792 S. Rogers Pleas. Mem. ii. 438 Lo, Fancy's fairy frost-work melts away. 1853 C. Brontë Villette xix. 188 These few warm words..breathed on that frail frost⁓work of reserve. |
| attrib. 1822 Shelley Hellas 416 Ye who strike To dust the citadels of sanguine kings..And thaw their frostwork diadems like dew. 1832 J. Bree St. Herbert's Isle 4 The frost-work palace of an April night. |
2. Ornamentation in imitation of this.
| 1648 E. Sparke in J. Shute's Sarah & Hagar (1649) Pref. b 1 a, Many others set but their slight Frost-works upon Sattin. 1664 Power Exp. Philos. i. 7 Her body looks like Silver in Frost-work. 1872 Ruskin Eagle's Nest §174 The feathers like frost-work of silver. |
| attrib. 1703 Moxon Mech. Exerc. 59 Like frost work Silver. |
Hence
ˈfrost-worked ppl. a., ornamented with frost-work, frosted.
| 1710 Lond. Gaz. No. 4748/4 A small silver Milk Pot frost worked. |