Frost \Frost\ (fr[o^]st; 115), n. [OE. frost, forst, AS. forst,
frost. fr. fre['o]san to freeze; akin to D. varst, G., OHG.,
Icel., Dan., & Sw. frost. [root]18. See Freeze, v. i.]
1. The act of freezing; -- applied chiefly to the congelation
of water; congelation of fluids.
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2. The state or temperature of the air which occasions
congelation, or the freezing of water; severe cold or
freezing weather.
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The third bay comes a frost, a killing frost.
--Shak.
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3. Frozen dew; -- called also hoarfrost or white frost.
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He scattereth the hoarfrost like ashes. --Ps.
cxlvii. 16.
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4. Coldness or insensibility; severity or rigidity of
character. [R.]
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It was of those moments of intense feeling when the
frost of the Scottish people melts like a snow
wreath. --Sir W.
Scott.
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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.
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The brig and the ice round her are covered by a
strange black
obscurity: it is the frost smoke of arctic winters.
--Kane.
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.
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