freeze

verb, noun — 18 senses

freeze

verb

/ˈfɹiːz/

Etymology

From Middle English fresen, from Old English frēosan (“to freeze”), from Proto-West Germanic *freusan, from Proto-Germanic *freusaną (“to freeze”), from Proto-Indo-European *prews- (“to freeze; frost”). Cognates Cognate with North Frisian friis, friise, früüs (“to freeze”), Saterland Frisian fjoose, frjoze (“to freeze”), West Frisian frieze (“to freeze”), Central Franconian freese (“to freeze”), Cimbrian briizan, vriizan (“to be cold”), Dutch vriezen (“to freeze”), Low German freren, fresen (“to freeze”), Luxembourgish fréieren (“to freeze”), German frieren (“to freeze”), Yiddish פֿרירן (frirn, “freeze”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål fryse (“to freeze”), Icelandic frjósa (“to freeze”), Norwegian Nynorsk frysa, fryse (“to freeze”), Swedish frysa (“to freeze”); also Cornish rew (“frost, ice”), Irish reo (“frost”), reoigh (“to freeze”), Manx rio (“frost, ice”), Scottish Gaelic reòdh, reòth (“freeze”), Welsh rhew (“frost, ice”), Latin pruīna (“hoarfrost, rime”), Albanian prush (“embers”), Lithuanian prausti (“to give showers of rain”), Czech prskat (“to splutter, sputter”), Macedonian прска (prska, “to spray, sprinkle”), Polish pryskać, prysnąć (“to spray, sprinkle”), Russian пры́скать (prýskatʹ), пры́снуть (prýsnutʹ, “to spray, sprinkle”), Serbo-Croatian прскати, prskati (“to spray, sprinkle”), Sanskrit प्रुष्णोति (pruṣṇoti, “to moisten, shower, sprinkle, wet”), प्रुष्वा (pruṣvā, “hoarfrost, ice, rime”), Saraiki پسݨ (pussaṇ, “to become wet”).

13 senses
  1. 1Especially of a liquid, to become solid due to low temperature.
  2. 2To lower something's temperature to the point that it…
  3. 3To drop to a temperature below zero degrees celsius…
  4. 4To be affected by extreme cold.
  5. 5Of a machine or system, to come to a sudden halt, to…
  6. 6Of a person or other animal, to stop (become motionless)…
  7. 7To cause someone to become motionless.
  8. 8To lose or cause to lose warmth of feeling; to shut out…
  9. 9To cause loss of animation or life in, from lack of…
  10. 10To prevent the movement or liquidation of a person's…
  11. 11Of prices, spending etc., to keep at the same level…
  12. 12To prevent from showing any visible change.
  13. 13To trap (the puck) so that it cannot be played.
1

Especially of a liquid, to become solid due to low temperature.

  • The lake froze solid.
  • 1855, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Song of Hiawatha, Book XX: The Famine, Ever thicker, thicker, thicker / Froze the ice on lake and river,
2 more examples
  • He got to Dawson before the river froze, and now I suppose I won't hear any more until spring.1913 June, Willa Sibert Cather, “Winter Memories”, in O Pioneers!, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Houghton Mifflin Company […], →OCLC:
  • 1915, Eleanor Stackhouse Atkinson, The How and Why Library: Wonders, Section II: Water, Running water does not freeze as easily as still water.
2

To lower something's temperature to the point that it freezes or becomes hard.

  • Don't freeze meat twice.
  • 1888, Elias Lönnrot, John Martin Crawford (translator, from German), The Kalevala, Rune XXX: The Frost-fiend, Freeze the wizard in his vessel, / Freeze to ice the wicked Ahti, ...
3

To drop to a temperature below zero degrees celsius, where water turns to ice.

  • It didn't freeze this winter, but last winter was very harsh.
4

Informal To be affected by extreme cold.

  • It's freezing in here!
  • Don't go outside wearing just a t-shirt; you'll freeze!
1 more example
  • Far unfit to bear the bitter cold, / I can scarcely move or draw my breath? / Let me, let me freeze again to death.1691, “What Power Art Thou? (The Cold Song)”, in John Dryden (lyrics), Henry Purcell (music), King Arthur:
5

Computing, Engineering, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Sciences, Software Idiomatic Of a machine or system, to come to a sudden halt, to stop working (functioning).

  • Since the last update, the program freezes after a few minutes of use.
6

Idiomatic Of a person or other animal, to stop (become motionless) or be stopped due to attentiveness, fear, surprise, etc.

  • Despite all of the rehearsals, I froze as soon as I got on stage.
  • As Tarzan rose upon the body of his kill to scream forth his hideous victory cry into the face of the moon the wind carried to his nostrils something which froze him to statuesque immobility and silence.1916, Edgar Rice Burroughs, chapter III, in Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar:
1 more example
  • They froze on their knees, their faces turned upward with a ghastly blue hue in the sudden glare of a weird light that burst blindingly up near the lofty roof and then burned with a throbbing glow.1935, Robert E. Howard, chapter IV, in Jewels of Gwahlur:
7

To cause someone to become motionless.

  • Dr Constantine sniggered and Mrs Hubbard immediately froze him with a glance.1934, Agatha Christie, chapter 4, in Murder on the Orient Express, London: HarperCollins, published 2017, page 102:
8

Figuratively To lose or cause to lose warmth of feeling; to shut out; to ostracize.

  • Over time, he froze towards her, and ceased to react to her friendly advances.
  • The other side to this sunny gladness of natural love is his pity for their sufferings when their own mother's heart seems to freeze towards them.1898, Robert Burns, edited by John George Dow, Selections from the poems of Robert Burns, page lviii:
2 more examples
  • His friends begin to freeze towards him, the pillars of society cut him publicly, his clients cool off, big business deals no longer come his way, he is increasingly conscious of social ostracism and the puzzled misgivings of his wife.1968, Ronald Victor Sampson, The Psychology of Power, page 134:
  • If you cheat them, they don't say anything but after that they freeze towards you.1988, Edward Holland Spicer, Kathleen M. Sands, Rosamond B. Spicer, People of Pascua, page 37:
9

To cause loss of animation or life in, from lack of heat; to give the sensation of cold to; to chill.

  • A faint, cold fear runs through my veins, / That almost freezes up the heat of life.c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii]:
10

To prevent the movement or liquidation of a person's financial assets

  • The court froze the criminal's bank account.
11

Of prices, spending etc., to keep at the same level, without any increase.

  • The headline promise in the Liberal Democrat manifesto is to freeze rail fares for commuters and season ticket holders for the duration of a Parliament.2019 December 4, “Lib Dems promise fares freeze and low-emission technology”, in Rail, page 6:
12

Ambitransitive To prevent from showing any visible change.

  • Pressing the pause button will freeze the video playback.
  • Playback will freeze if you pause the video.
13

Hobbies, Ice hockey, Lifestyle, Skating, Sports To trap (the puck) so that it cannot be played.

Derived terms
54 termsadfreeze, antifreeze, befreeze, brain freeze, cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey, cryofreeze, cryo-freeze, deep-freeze, deep freeze, defreeze, enfreeze, flash-freeze, freezable, freeze-ahead, freeze baby, freeze brand, freeze chest, freeze distillation, freeze-dried, freeze-dry, freeze-drying, freeze-frame, freeze frame, freeze on to, freeze onto, freeze-out, freezeout, freeze out, freeze over, freeze peach, freeze pop, freezeproof, freezer, freeze solid, freeze-thaw, freeze to, freeze-up, freeze up, freeze valve, freezie, freezing, freezing point, freezoree, freezy, hard freeze, nonfreeze, pay freeze, postfreeze, prefreeze, quick-freeze, refreeze, Seattle Freeze, snap freeze, until the cows freeze over
Related terms
frore, frorn, frory, frost, frosty

freeze

noun

Etymology See the above verb.

1

A period of intensely cold weather.

  • In order to work properly, the cotton stripper required that the plant be brown and brittle, as happened after a freeze, so that the cotton bolls could snap off easily.2009, Pietra Rivoli, The Travels of a T-shirt in the Global Economy, 2nd edition, page 38:
2

A halt of a regular operation.

  • Without a freeze it might be possible to proceed with the production and deployment of such destabilizing systems as the MX, Trident II, cruise missiles and SS-18s, -19s and -20s.1982 October, William Epstein, “The freeze: a hot issue at the United Nations”, in Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists:
  • 1983 October 3, Ted Kennedy, speech, Truth and Tolerance in America, Critics may oppose the nuclear freeze for what they regard as moral reasons.
1 more example
  • Many of our opponents in Congress are advocating a freeze in Federal spending and an increase in taxes.1985 April 27, Ronald Reagan, Presidential Radio Address:
3

Computing, Engineering, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Sciences The state when either a single computer program, or the whole system ceases to respond to inputs.

4

Ball games, Curling, Games, Hobbies, Lifestyle, Sports A precise draw weight shot where a delivered stone comes to a stand-still against a stationary stone, making it nearly impossible to knock out.

  • The reason I said the guard wasn't the toughest shot in curling is because, in my book, that's a shot called the freeze. A stone thrown as a freeze comes perfectly to rest directly in front of another stone, without moving it (see Figure 10-5).2006, Bob Weeks, Curling for Dummies, page 143:
5

Business, Finance A block on pay rises or on the hiring of new employees etc.

  • a hiring freeze;  a pay freeze
  • "We need a different understanding of revenues and public expenditure. The 15-year freeze on fuel duty and lack of tax on aviation fuel are effectively a huge subsidy to those forms of travel, but they are not described as subsidy because they are foregone revenue. Yet if you invest to hold rail fares, it's seen as subsidy."2025 May 28, Ben Plowden talks to Anthony Lambert, “The railway is an essential public service”, in RAIL, number 1036, page 33:
Derived terms
freeze tag, hard freeze, rent freeze

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.

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