Frost

Frost (frŏst; 115), n. [OE. frost, forst, AS. forst, frost. fr. freósan to freeze; akin to D. varst, G., OHG., Icel., Dan., & Sw. frost. √18. See Freeze, v. i.] 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.

3. Frozen dew; -- called also hoarfrost or white frost.

He scattereth the hoarfrost like ashes.

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.

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 cryophorus. -- 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 keep 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.

-- 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.

Frost (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Frosted; p. pr. & vb. n. Frosting.] 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.

3. To roughen or sharpen, as the nail heads or calks of horseshoes, so as to fit them for frosty weather.