frost
/fɹɔst/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.95 in modern English
8
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
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.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
The act of freezing; the congelation of water or other liquid.
Countable; Obsolete; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "Thus I was; in the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night; and my sleep departed from mine eyes."
- "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;"
- "It was one of those moments of intense feeling when the frost of the Scottish people melts like a snow-wreath."
- "Up to that time the girl had never really done her hair, and she regarded boots merely as things to protect the feet. Suddenly it dawned on her that she was considered plain and that she diffused an atmosphere of intellectual frost."
- "An LA-based business associate of Harry and Meghan, who live in Montecito, California, told the Telegraph there had been a “warming of the frost” between the king and his youngest son after Harry’s public attacks in his memoir, Spare, and television interviews."
- "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."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *prews- Proto-Indo-European *-tós Proto-Indo-European *prustós Proto-Germanic *frustaz Proto-West Germanic *frost Old English frost Middle English frost English frost 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 Saterland Frisian Froast, Fröäst (“frost”), West Frisian froast (“frost”), Cimbrian bròst, vrost, vròst (“frost”), Dutch vorst (“frost”), German Frost (“frost”), Luxembourgish Frascht (“frost”), Vilamovian fröst (“frost”), Danish, Faroese, Icelandic, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, Swedish frost (“frost”), Latin pruīna (“hoarfrost, frost, rime, snow”). Related to freeze.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /fɹɔst/
- British English: /fɹɒst/