freeze
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈfɹiːz/
rhymes: -iːz
homophone: frees
homophone: frieze
Forms: form: freezes
form: freezing
form: froze
form: frore
form: frozen
form: froze
form: frore
Etymology: From Middle English fresen, from Old English frēosan (“to freeze”), from Proto-West Germanic *freusan, from Proto-Germanic *freusaną (“to frost, freeze”), from Proto-Indo-European *prews- (“to frost, freeze”).
Cognate with Scots frese (“to freeze”), North Frisian friis, friise, früüs (“to freeze”), Saterland Frisian frjoze (“to freeze”), West Frisian frieze (“to freeze”), Dutch vriezen (“to freeze”), Low German freren, freern, fresen (“to freeze”), Luxembourgish fréieren (“freeze”), German frieren (“to freeze”), Yiddish פֿרירן (frirn, “freeze”), Cimbrian briizan, vriizan (“freeze”), Danish, Norwegian fryse (“freeze”), Swedish frysa (“to freeze”), Icelandic frjósa (“freeze”), Latin pruīna (“hoarfrost”), Welsh (Northern) rhew (“frost, ice”), and Sanskrit प्रुष्व (pruṣvá, “water drop, frost”).
Senses: examples: text: The lake froze solid.
text: 1855, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Song of Hiawatha, Book XX: The Famine,
Ever thicker, thicker, thicker / Froze the ice on lake and river,
text: He got to Dawson before the river froze, and now I suppose I won't hear any more until spring.
ref: 1913, Willa Cather, “O Pioneers!”, in Winter Memories, section I:
text: 1915, Eleanor Stackhouse Atkinson, The How and Why Library: Wonders, Section II: Water,
Running water does not freeze as easily as still water.
synonyms: solidify
antonyms: defrost
liquify
unfreeze
glosses: Especially of a liquid, to become solid due to low temperature.
examples: text: Don't freeze meat twice.
text: 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, ...
glosses: To lower something's temperature to the point that it freezes or becomes hard.
examples: text: It didn't freeze this winter, but last winter was very harsh.
glosses: To drop to a temperature below zero degrees celsius, where water turns to ice.
examples: text: It's freezing in here!
text: Don't go outside wearing just a t-shirt; you'll freeze!
glosses: To be affected by extreme cold.
examples: text: Since the last update, the program freezes after a few minutes of use.
synonyms: freeze up
grind to a halt
hang
lock up
seize
seize up
glosses: (of machines and software) To come to a sudden halt, stop working (functioning).
examples: text: Despite all of the rehearsals, I froze as soon as I got on stage.
text: 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.
ref: 1916, Edgar Rice Burroughs, chapter III, in Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar:
text: 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.
ref: 1935, Robert E. Howard, chapter IV, in Jewels of Gwahlur:
synonyms: freeze up
glosses: (of people and other animals) To stop (become motionless) or be stopped due to attentiveness, fear, surprise, etc.
examples: text: Dr Constantine sniggered and Mrs Hubbard immediately froze him with a glance.
ref: 1934, Agatha Christie, chapter 4, in Murder on the Orient Express, London: HarperCollins, published 2017, page 102:
synonyms: halt
immobilize
See also Thesaurus:immobilize
glosses: To cause someone to become motionless.
examples: text: Over time, he froze towards her, and ceased to react to her friendly advances.
text: 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.
ref: 1898, Robert Burns, edited by John George Dow, Selections from the poems of Robert Burns, page lviii:
text: 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.
ref: 1968, Ronald Victor Sampson, The Psychology of Power, page 134:
text: If you cheat them, they don't say anything but after that they freeze towards you.
ref: 1988, Edward Holland Spicer, Kathleen M. Sands, Rosamond B. Spicer, People of Pascua, page 37:
glosses: To lose or cause to lose warmth of feeling; to shut out; to ostracize.
examples: text: A faint, cold fear runs through my veins, / That almost freezes up the heat of life.
ref: 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]:
glosses: To cause loss of animation or life in, from lack of heat; to give the sensation of cold to; to chill.
examples: text: The court froze the criminal's bank account.
glosses: To prevent the movement or liquidation of a person's financial assets
examples: text: 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.
ref: 2019 December 4, “Lib Dems promise fares freeze and low-emission technology”, in Rail, page 6:
glosses: Of prices, spending etc., to keep at the same level, without any increase.
examples: text: Pressing the pause button will freeze the video playback.
text: Playback will freeze if you pause the video.
glosses: To prevent from showing any visible change.
topics: hobbies
ice-hockey
lifestyle
skating
sports
glosses: To trap (the puck) so that it cannot be played.
Derived terms: adfreeze
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