Word: freeze Part of Speech: verb 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”). Pronunciation: /ˈfɹiːz/ 1. Especially of a liquid, to become solid due to low temperature. Labels: copulative, intransitive Example: The lake froze solid. Example: 1855, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Song of Hiawatha, Book XX: The Famine, Ever thicker, thicker, thicker / Froze the ice on lake and river, 2. To lower something's temperature to the point that it freezes or becomes hard. Labels: transitive Example: Don't freeze meat twice. Example: 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. Labels: intransitive Example: It didn't freeze this winter, but last winter was very harsh. 4. To be affected by extreme cold. Labels: informal, intransitive Example: It's freezing in here! Example: Don't go outside wearing just a t-shirt; you'll freeze! 5. Of a machine or system, to come to a sudden halt, to stop working (functioning). Labels: idiomatic, intransitive Example: Since the last update, the program freezes after a few minutes of use. 6. Of a person or other animal, to stop (become motionless) or be stopped due to attentiveness, fear, surprise, etc. Labels: idiomatic, intransitive Example: Despite all of the rehearsals, I froze as soon as I got on stage. Example: 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. 7. To cause someone to become motionless. Labels: transitive Example: Dr Constantine sniggered and Mrs Hubbard immediately froze him with a glance. 8. To lose or cause to lose warmth of feeling; to shut out; to ostracize. Labels: figuratively Example: Over time, he froze towards her, and ceased to react to her friendly advances. Example: 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. 9. To cause loss of animation or life in, from lack of heat; to give the sensation of cold to; to chill. Example: A faint, cold fear runs through my veins, / That almost freezes up the heat of life. 10. To prevent the movement or liquidation of a person's financial assets Labels: transitive Example: The court froze the criminal's bank account. 11. Of prices, spending etc., to keep at the same level, without any increase. Example: 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. 12. To prevent from showing any visible change. Labels: ambitransitive Example: Pressing the pause button will freeze the video playback. Example: Playback will freeze if you pause the video. 13. To trap (the puck) so that it cannot be played. Labels: transitive