freezing meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

freezing

adj

UK /ˈfɹiːz.ɪŋ/

Etymology By surface analysis, freeze + -ing.

Literally Suffering or causing frost.

Broadly, Excessive Very cold.

With above or below The freezing point of water, zero degrees celsius.

Despite this, the average temperature at the surface [of Mars] is 50–60K below freezing, making it hard to imagine that any plants or animals could survive.1998, Bruce Jakosky, The Search for Life on Other Planets:

Aloof, unfriendly.

He turned at the door of the inner office and dropped a freezing eye on the offender. "Get those letters copied before you go out to lunch, Binns," he remarked in a sufficiently loud voice.1923, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], “(please specify the page)”, in The Eyes of Max Carrados, London: Grant Richards, →OCLC:
Jeff unconsciously reached out to touch the pewter casket, but was intercepted by the mother. She whisked his hand away with freezing politeness and said simply, "He's gone now."1986, Craig G. Harris, “Cut Off from Among Their People”, in Joseph Beam, editor, In The Life: A Black Gay Anthology, page 64:

noun

Etymology By surface analysis, freeze + -ing.

The change in state of a substance from liquid to solid by cooling to a critically low temperature.

The temp in the mountains may/can fall below freezing at this time of year.
Hence, there is a succession of thawings and freezings. The former expand, and endeavour to restore the surface of the ground to its natural condition, while the latter contract and harden it.1829, James Macauley, The natural, statistical, and civil history of the state of New York:

1 more example

[…] and the sloping collection of fractured rocks—known as talus—that tumbled down from the quartzite bluffs during the repeated freezings and unfreezings of the last Ice Age.2015, Kevin Revolinski, 60 Hikes Within 60 Miles: Madison (page 116)

Medicine, Sciences The action of numbing with anesthetics.