freeze up meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

freeze up

verbalso spelled freeze-up

To be adversely affected by ice, and not function.

But these precautions lost some of their merit when the L.T. trains themselves became frozen up at depots overnight.1962 March, “Lessons of the Freeze-up”, in Modern Railways, page 146:

Ambitransitive (of machines and software) To come or bring to a sudden halt, stop working (functioning).

Ambitransitive (of people and other animals) To stop or be stopped due to attentiveness, fear, surprise, etc.

To become cold and formal in demeanour.

noun

Etymology Deverbal from freeze up.

The blocking of pipes due to freezing.

A period of extremely cold, freezing weather.

The heaters, the S.R. now says, will "help tremendously" if there is severe snow and ice—a welcome change of tune from last winter, when the Region was countering criticism of its operation during the January freeze-up with a bland defence of existing precautions [...].1962 December, “Talking of Trains: Point heaters on the S.R.”, in Modern Railways, page 371:

Climatology, Meteorology, Natural sciences, Seasons, Time, Weather The start of the time when surface waters are frozen over.

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — authors: page histories for freeze up and freeze-up.