frost--prophetes.ai

▪ I. frost, n.
    (frɒst, -ɔː-)
    Forms: 1 frost, forst, 2–5 forst(e, 3 south. vorst, 5 froste, (4 wrost, froist, 7 froast), 4– frost.
    [Com. Teut.: OE. frost, usually forst, str. masc., corresponds to OFris. frost, forst, OS. frost (MDu. vorst masc. and fem., mod.Du. fem. only), OHG. frost (MHG. vrost, mod.Ger. frost) str. masc., ON. frost neut. (Sw., Da. frost masc.):—OTeut. *frusto-, f. weak-grade of the root of *freusan to freeze.]
    1. a. The act or state of freezing or becoming frozen; the temperature of the atmosphere when it is below the freezing-point of water; extreme cold. Often used with qualifying adj. as hard frost, sharp, etc. frost. black frost: frost not accompanied by rime; opposed to white frost (see sense 2). Also personified in Jack Frost.
    † below frost: below freezing-point (obs.). (ten, etc.) degrees of frost: degrees below freezing-point.

a 700 Epinal Gloss. 485 Gelum, frost. a 1000 Phoenix 58 Se hearda forst. a 1123 O.E. Chron. an. 1110 Treow wæstmas wurdon þære nihte þurh forste swiðe for numene. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 35 Ic walde fein pinian and sitten on forste and on snawe up et mine chinne. a 1250 Owl & Night. 524 Wane niȝtes cumeth longe, And bringeth forstes starke an stronge. 1382 Wyclif Dan. iii. 69 Byndynge frost [1388 Blac forst] and colde, bless ȝe to the Lord. c 1450 Merlin 149 Thei cloded hem warme as thei myght, for the froste was grete. 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. cclxxxvi. 428 They went a seuyn leages afote..and it was harde frost, wherby they cutte their fete. 1576 Fleming Panopl. Epist. 395 The Winter Frostes doe not alwayes indure: no more should your greefe. 1647 Cowley Mistress, Bathing in the River iv, When rigorous Winter binds you [river] up with Frost. 1694 Acc. Sev. Late Voy. ii. (1711) 207 The Days in Summer being excessive hot, and the Nights sharp Frosts, even to an inch thickness in the Ponds. 1715 Desaguliers Fires Impr. 47 The Liquor subsided to 18 degrees, which was two Degrees below Frost. 1804 J. Grahame Sabbath 214 As when a waveless lake..Is sheeted by a nightly frost with ice. 1847 A. M. Gilliam Trav. Mexico 9 Welcome Jack Frost had visited the city of New Orleans..that hoary benefactor. 1851 Hawthorne Twice-told T. Ser. ii. Shaker Bridal, The hoarfrost, and the blackfrost, hath done its work on Brother Adam.

b. viewed as an agent which penetrates and freezes the contained moisture of a porous substance, esp. the ground.

1694 Acc. Sev. Late Voy. ii. (1711) 27 The frost cannot penetrate far into such Ground. 18.. C. D. Warner Spring in New Eng. (Cent.), In the shade there is still frost in the ground. 1891 S. C. Scrivener Our Fields & Cities 139 Frost will penetrate eight inches, sometimes more. 1894 Westm. Gaz. 5 Apr. 3/2 A sheep's carcass is small; you can get the frost out of it as soon as you require it.

† c. Proverb. (Cf. farewell fieldfare.) Obs.

c 1590 Play Sir Thomas More (1844) 52 Why, farewell, frost. 1599 Porter Angry Wom. Abingd. (Percy Soc.) 43 Farewell, frost. 1670 Ray Eng. Prov. 174 Farewel, frost; nothing got, nor nothing lost.

2. a. Frozen dew or vapour. More fully hoar(y frost, rime frost, or white frost.

a 1000 Riddles lxxxviii. 8 (Gr.) Hwilum hara scoc forst of feaxe. a 1300 Cursor M. 6520 Manna..fel fra lift sa gret plente, Als a grideld frost to se. a 1340 Hampole Psalter lxxvii. 52 Þaire mours [Vulg. moros]..he sloghe in ryme froist. 1382 Wyclif Dan. iii. 68 Dewis and whyt frost, blesse ȝe to the Lord. 1563 W. Fulke Meteors (1640) 54 Hoare frost or white frost is nothing else, but dew congealed by over much cold. 1667 Milton P.L. xi. 899 Seed-time and Harvest, Heat and hoary Frost, Shall hold their course. 1704 Pope Winter 9 Behold the groves that shine with silver frost. 1739 T. Smith Jrnl. (1849) 268 Last night there was a very white frost, that killed the tops of our potatoes. 1832 Tennyson New-Year's Eve iv, There's not a flower on all the hills: the frost is on the pane.

† b. Frozen water, ice. Obs.

c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) xiv. 61 Anoþer water þat on nyghtes fresez hard, and on days es na frost sene þeron. 1580 Frampton Dial. Yron & Steele 169 Waters which doe proceed of snow and of frost. Ibid. 170 With a piece of frost, chewing it continually.

3. fig.

c 1200 Ormin 12655 To shridenn uss þærwiþþ onnȝæn þe frosst off fakenn trowwþe. 1595 in Caxton's Blanchardyn (E.E.T.S.) 214 A frost of cares [began] to ouer runne their summers blisse. 1769 Sir W. Jones Pal. Fortune Poems (1777) 22 A reverend sage, Whose beard was hoary with the frost of age. 1851 Ruskin Stones Ven. (1874) I. xx. 225 The Renaissance frosts came, and all perished.

b. esp. Of a person: Coldness of behaviour or temperament, frigidity; also slang, a ‘coolness’.

1635 J. Hayward tr. Biondi's Banish'd Virg. 141 The difference betweene a woman of frost and one of fire. 1720 Humourist 99 But with all this Shyness, Frost, and Virtue..my Friend finds her as willing a Tit [etc.]. 1815 Scott Guy M. lv, One of those moments of intense feeling when the frost of the Scottish people melts like a snow wreath. 1886 Mallock Old Order Changes II. 256 He could not..keep a slight frost from his manner. 1891 S. J. Duncan Amer. Girl Lond. 196 There's a frost on—we don't play with each other any more.

c. Sc. (See quot. 1825–80.)

a 1757 Gil Morrice x. in Child Ballads iv. lxxxiii. (1886) 272 Sen ye by me will nae be warnd, In it ye sall find frost. 1825–80 Jamieson, Frost, difficulty; to fin' frost, to meet with difficulties, Banffs.

4. slang (originally Theatr.). A failure.

1886 Stage Gossip 70 When a piece ‘goes’ badly, it is called, a ‘frost’. 1891 I. Zangwill Bachelors' Club 209 This last book..is a regular frost. 1896 Q. Rev. Oct. 538 The Randt mines would, in mining phrase, ‘turn out a frost’.

† 5. a. A colour like that of hoarfrost; silver-grey. b. Gold or silver frost-work; cf. frost-button. Obs.

1657 R. Ligon Barbadoes (1673) 83 The colour for the most part, frost upon green. 1702 Lond. Gaz. No. 3810/8 All Gold and Silver Plate shall be spun close on well boiled and light died Silk only, (Frost excepted).

† 6. ? = calk n.¹ 2. Obs.

1718 S. Sewall Diary 19 Jan. (1882) III. 161 Great Rain, and very Slippery: was fain to wear Frosts. Ibid. 5 Feb. III. 165 Had like to have fallen grievously, by reason of my Frosts, on the Steps in the night. (Note, Probably the caulks or mocassins of those days, which were in use till quite recently by aged people.)

7. attrib. and Comb. a. simple attrib., as frost-diamond, frost-giant, frost-mark, frost-power, frost-scene, frost-time, frost-wind, frost-wound, frost-wreath; also frost-free, frost-like, frost-proof adjs.

1868 Ld. Houghton Select. fr. Wks. 215 *Frost-diamonds twinkle on the grass.

1926 Nat. Geogr. Mag. May 513/1 (heading) Over mountain roads to a *frostfree thermal belt. 1946 Nature 20 July 78/1 Most suitable frost-free sites are gentle slopes.

1889 R. B. Anderson tr. Rydberg's Teut. Mythol. 134 Thor, the divine foe of the *frost-giants.

1832 Tennyson Pal. Art xiii, From shadow'd grots of arches interlaced, And tipt with *frost-like spires.

1856 Kane Arct. Expl. II. xix. 193 Not an icicle or even a *frost-mark was to be seen on the roof.

1889 R. B. Anderson tr. Rydberg's Teut. Mythol. 138 The *frost-powers led by Thjasse's kinsmen.

1896 T. W. Sanders Encycl. Gardening (ed. 2) 1 Lift tubers..& store in *frost-proof place. 1960 Farmer & Stockbreeder 23 Feb. 72/2 The store was made frost-proof by lining the inner wall with glass-fibre.

1709 Steele Tatler No. 182 ¶1 We shall not shortly have so much as a Landskip or *Frost-Scene to refresh ourselves.

1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) IV. 467 Longe aftirward, in frosty time [v.r. *frost tyme], Iulian was wery, and reste hym aboute mydnyȝt.

1818 Scott Rob Roy xxxiii, A sharp *frost-wind, which made itself heard and felt from time to time. 1820 Keats St. Agnes xxxvi, The frost-wind blows.

1856 Kane Arct. Expl. II. iii. 45 One [suffering] from *frost-wounds.

1872 Bryant Little People of Snow 349 Around that little grave, in the long night, *Frost-wreaths were laid.

b. instrumental, as frost-beaded, frost-bound, frost-burnt, frost-chequered, frost-concocted. frost-congealed, frost-fettered, frost-firmed, frost-kibed, frost-rent, frost-riven, frost-tempered adjs.

1842 Faber Styrian Lake, etc. 122 The white *frost-beaded grass.

1785 Cowper Task v. 155 Materials..*frost-bound Firm as a rock. 1848 Kingsley Saint's Trag. iv. i, I came..Among the Alps, all through one frost-bound dawn.

1770 Armstrong Misc. I. 152 Whipping the *frost-burnt villagers to the bones.

a 1847 Eliza Cook To the Robin vii, The *frost-chequer'd pane.

1726–46 Thomson Winter 707 The *frost-concocted glebe Draws in abundant vegetable soul.

1877 Longfellow Wapentake, Voiceless as a rivulet *frost-congealed.

1811 E. Lysaght Poems 1 The *frost-fettered rivers no longer can flow.

1591 Sylvester Du Bartas i. v. 875 For when her Troops of wandring Cranes forsake *Frost-firméd Strymon.

1848 Kingsley Saint's Trag. i. iii, Proud of your *frost-kibed feet, and dirty serge.

1806 J. Grahame Birds Scotl. 84 A *frost-rent fragment.

1873 J. Geikie Gt. Ice Age v. 58 A heap of *frost-riven débris.

1856 Kane Arct. Expl. II. i. 16 My thoughts recal the *frost-tempered junks of this pachydermoid amphibion.

c. Special comb.: frost-bearer = cryophorus; frost-bird (see quot.); frost-blite, the plant Chenopodium album (see quot.); frost blue (see quot.); frost-bow (see quot.); † frost-brained a., dull, stupid; frost-button, a button with a frosted surface; frost-cog (see quot.); frost-crack, a vertical split in a tree-trunk caused by the stress created as the wood freezes; frost-dew, hoar-frost, rime; frost-fall (see quot.); frost-fern, a fern-like figure produced by the freezing of a moist surface; frost-fish, (a) the Tomcod, Microgadus tomcodus, so called from its appearing on the coast of N. America as the frost sets in; (b) the scabbard-fish, Lepidopus caudatus; frost-fix v., to fix with frost; frost-flower, an ice-crystal resembling a flower; frost-fog = frost-mist; frost-grape, an American species of the vine Vitis cordifolia or riparia; frost-heave, -heaving, uplift of soil surface caused by expansion of water beneath the surface on freezing; so frost-heaved a.; frost-hoar a., covered with hoar frost; frost-hollow (see quots.); frost-itch, -lamp (see quots.); frost-line (after snow-line), the limit of frost; frost-mist, mist caused by the freezing of vapour in the atmosphere; frost-nail n., a nail driven into the shoe to prevent slipping in frosty weather; so frost-nail v., to put frost-nails in the shoes; frost-piece, a person of cold behaviour or disposition; frost pocket, a small low-lying area affected by frost (cf. pocket n. 8 c); frost-rime = frost-smoke; frost-ring, a ring-shaped zone of tissue damaged by frost in the trunk of a tree; frost-root, the common fleabane of the U.S., Erigeron philadelphicus (Cent. Dict.); frost-shod pple., shod with frost-nails; also fig.; frost-smoke (see quot. 1867); frost-split (see quot.); frost-stud = frost-nail n.; frost-thrust Geol., (a) n. = frost-thrusting; (b) adj., that results from or has been subjected to frost-thrusting; frost-thrusting Geol., movement of soil during freezing, often with consequent lateral or vertical movement of partly buried rocks; frost-valve (see quot.); frost-weed, -wort, the plant Helianthemum canadense, sometimes used as an astringent or aromatic tonic; so called because, late in autumn, crystals of ice shoot from the cracked bark at the root (W.). Also frost-bite, -bitten, frost-nip, -nipped, frost-work.

1826 *Frost-bearer [see cryophorus].

1848 H. W. Herbert Field Sports in U.S. II. 58 The American Golden Plover..is better known to our gunners by the name of *‘Frost Bird’, so called from being more plentiful during the early frosts in autumn.

1835 Booth Analyt. Dict., *Frost-blite. 1863 Prior Plant-n., Frost-blite, a blite whitened as by hoar-frost, Chenopodium album.

1873 Weale's Dict. Arch. (ed. 4), *Frost blue, a coarse variety of smalt.

1863 Home Walks 20 A *frostbow appeared, resembling in all respects a rainbow, except that it was of a lustrous white.

1592 Nobody & Someb. in Simpson Sch. Shaks. (1878) I. 300 But he, *frost-braind, will not be obtaind To take upon him this Realmes government.

1686 Lond. Gaz. No. 2192/4 A good cloth Coat..trim'd with a silver and silk *frost Button. 1711 Ibid. No. 4912/4 A dark Grey Suit of Cloaths, trim'd with Gold Frost Buttons.

1884 Knight Dict. Mech. IV. 358/2 *Frost Cog, a toe or projection on a horse shoe to keep the animal from slipping.

1894 T. Laslett Timber & Timber Trees (ed. 2) iv. 61 An expansion may result at a certain stage of the freezing of the inner woody cylinder, and the consequence is a *frost⁓crack. 1960 Kramer & Kozlowski Physiol. Trees xvi. 490 Frost cracks are more common in forest trees than in orchard trees.

1826 Scott Woodst. xxviii, My pumps are full of this *frost-dew.

1879 I. L. Bird Rocky Mount. I. 295 That curious phenomena [sic] called *frost-fall..in which, whatever moisture may exist in the air, somehow aggregates into feathers and fern-leaves.

1871 Tyndall Fragm. Sc. (1879) II. xiv. 358 When it [water] runs into *frost-ferns upon a window pane.

1634 W. Wood New Eng. Prosp. (1865) 36 Th' *Frost fish and the Smelt. 1795 J. Sullivan Hist. Maine 21 The people have tom cod, or what they call frost fish..in great plenty. 1880 Günther Introd. Study Fishes 435 The Scabbard-fish (Lepidopus caudatus) is well known in New Zealand, where it is called ‘Frost-fish’. 1890 J. Habberton Out at Twinnetts 50 A string of frost-fish in one hand, and a lighted pipe in the other.

1800 J. Hurdis Fav. Village i. 15 When did the God..Congeal and *frost-fix your [mountain's] prodigious limbs.

1847 C. Brontë J. Eyre I. iv. 47, I fell to breathing on the *frost-flowers with which the window was fretted. 1923 E. Sitwell Bucolic Comedies 78 The frost-flowers upon the window-panes.

1813 Scott Trierm. i. iii, The sun was struggling with *frost-fog grey.

1789 Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc. I. 261 The *frost or winter grape is known to every body. 1859 Bartlett Dict. Amer., Chicken Grape, the River Grape, or Vitis riparia; also called Frost Grape.

1946 Amer. Jrnl. Sci. CCXLIV. 623 Thus the general use by geologists of..‘*frost-heave’ and ‘*frost-heaved’ is not completely supported by dictionary definitions. 1957 J. K. Charlesworth Quaternary Era I. xxvii. 567 Geologically, it [sc. permafrost] is most important in giving rise to frost thrust..and frost heave. 1967 F. A. Cook in Hamelin & Cook Illustr. Gloss. Periglacial Phenomena ix. 193 Frost-heaved congelifracts, involutions and injection plugs.

1929 Jrnl. Geol. XXXVII. 430 The maximum amount of *frost heaving that occurs during cold winters..is not known. 1930 Ibid. XXXVIII. 303 (title) The mechanics of frost heaving.

1853 C. Brontë Villette iv, The ice-bound waters and *frost-hoar fields.

1895 W. R. Fisher Schlich's Man. Forestry IV. iv. 431 Damp, low-lying places with stagnating air..termed *frost-hollows. 1953 H. L. Edlin Forester's Handbk. v. 75 Valley bottoms and slight depressions of the ground in which cold air collects on still, cloudless nights..are known as frost-hollows.

1894 Duane Student's Dict. Med., Pruritus hiemalis, winter itch, *frost-itch.

1874 Knight Dict. Mech. I. 918/2 *Frost-lamp, an oil-lamp placed beneath the oil-tube of an Argand lamp to keep the oil in a flowing condition.

1865 Whittier Snow-Bound 160 While the red logs before us beat The *frost-line back with tropic heat.

1814 Scott Wav. xlvi, A *frost-mist rising from the ocean, covered the eastern horizon.

1611 Cotgr., Ferré a glace, shod with *frost-nayles. 1874 Knight Dict. Mech. I. 918/2 Frost-nail, a roughing nail driven into a horse's shoe in slippery weather.

1594 Plat Jewell-ho. ii. 26 If I slip, you shall see how I will *frostnayle my selfe the nexte time that I ride abroade. 1673 Lond. Gaz. No. 753/3 His Highness hath caused all the Horse of his Guard to be Frost-nailed.

1748 Richardson Clarissa xxxi, The little hold I have in the heart of this charming *frost-piece. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth xxxi, Away, villain, and marshal in this fair frost-piece.

1931 Forestry V. 118 The leaders of Norway Spruce in small low-lying areas, ‘*frost pockets’, are killed back. 1932 Fuller & Conard tr. Braun-Blanquet's Plant Sociol. v. 86 The frost pockets (Frostlöcher) of the southwestern Swiss Jura are well known and shunned. 1968 R. Amberley Incitement to Murder ii. 29 Is the more exposed land, farther down..also yours?.. There is a frost pocket there, no doubt.

1820 Scoresby Acc. Arctic Reg. I. 434 *Frost-rime or frost-smoke..consists of a dense frozen vapour, apparently arising out of the sea or any large sheet of water.

1929 T. Thomson tr. Büsgen's Struct. & Life Forest Trees v. 146 The *frost rings did not extend beyond the fourth year. 1960 Kramer & Kozlowski Physiol. Trees ii. 16 Frost rings are most often found near the center of a tree because young shoots are more susceptible to frost injury than are old stems.

1603 Florio Montaigne ii. xiii. 354 To say truth, it [self murder] is a meate a man must swallow without chewing, vnlesse his throate be *frost-shod [Fr. ferré à glace]. 1765 Smollett Trav. xxxviii. (1766) II. 216 The mules..were frost-shod for the occasion.

1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1862) I. xxi. 136 In those forlorn regions round the poles..the sea smokes like an oven, and a fog arises which mariners call the *frost smoke. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Frost-smoke, a thick mist in high latitudes, arising from the surface of the sea when exposed to a temperature much below freezing; when the vapours as they rise are condensed either into a thick fog, or, with the thermometer about zero, hug the water in eddying white wreaths.

1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp., *Frost split, a phrase used by our farmers to express such trees as have large cracks in their trunks and branches.

1895 Times 21 Jan. 13/6 The sudden change in the weather has checked the demand for skates, *frost studs, and heating apparatus.

1946 K. Bryan in Amer. Jrnl. Sci. CCXLIV. 625 There is no common expression for the lateral thrust resulting from expansion although horizontal as contrasted with vertical *frost-thrust would sufficiently carry the meaning. 1951 [see frost-thrusting]. 1957 [see frost-heave].

1951 Jrnl. Geol. LIX. 65 The writer has found no terms descriptive of these particular phenomena. Consequently the following terminology is used: *Frost-thrusting is used for the process whereby large blocks of rock have been raised, commonly vertically, or have changed position with respect to the rest of the outcrop, owing to the frost action. Frost-thrust blocks refers to the blocks of rock which have been moved by frost-thrusting. 1954 Amer. Jrnl. Sci. CCLII. 55 From their structures we conclude that frost thrusting—lateral soil movement during freezing—plays a major role in their development.

1884 Knight Dict. Mech. IV. 358/2 *Frost Valve, a valve which opens to allow water to escape from the portion of the pipe or pump where it is liable to be frozen.

1866 Treas. Bot., *Frost-weed, Helianthemum canadense.

1859 Bartlett Dict. Amer., *Frostwort (Cistus canadensis), a medicinal plant prepared by the Shakers, and used for its astringent and tonic properties.

▪ II. frost, v.
    (frɒst, -ɔː-)
    [f. prec. n.]
    1. trans. To freeze, frost-bite, nip with frost. to frost off: to cause to drop off with frost. Chiefly fig.

1807 [see frosted 1]. 1818 Keats Endym. iii. 188 At this, a surprised start Frosted the springing verdure of his heart. 1871 Blackie Four Phases i. 49 Individuals whose social sympathies have been frosted in early life. 1884 Tennyson Becket i. iv, The golden leaves, these earls and barons, that clung to me, frosted off me by the first cold frown of the King. 1887 S. Chesh. Gloss., Frost, to spoil by the frost, of potatoes.

2. To cover with or as with rime; also with over. Chiefly fig.

1635 J. Hayward tr. Biondi's Banish'd Virg. 153 Such beauties as Aurora takes oft-times pleasure, in first frosting over with her canded dewes. 1787–9 Wordsw. Evening Walk, The rising moon, While with a hoary light she frosts the ground. 1791 E. Darwin Bot. Gard. i. 73 Nitre..frosts with branching plumes the mouldering walls. 1861 Times 22 Oct., These camps increase in number and in size till the white canvass frosts every knoll. 1890 C. Dixon Stray Feathers ii. 26 He frosts the feathers of some with gold and silver.

3. To give a frosted surface to (glass or metal); to make (glass) to resemble ice.

1832 [see frosting 1]. 1849 [see frosted 5 b].

4. To treat (a horse's shoes) by the insertion of frost-nails, roughing, etc., as a protection against slipping in frosty weather; to shoe (a horse) in this way.

1572 in Gage Hist. Hengrave (1822) 192 For frosting the cart-horses at Thetford..vd. 1665 Pepys Diary 26 Nov., I..set out, after my horses' being frosted, which I know not what it means to this day. 1752 J. MacSparran America Dissected (1753) 39 With a Horse well caulk'd and frosted, 'tis fine Travelling. 1831 Sir J. Sinclair Corr. II. 189, I could not get the shoes of my horses frosted. 1877 N.W. Linc. Gloss., Frost, to turn up the hinder part of a horse's shoes, or to put frost-nails in them to hinder the animal from slipping on ice.