thaw
Part of speech: verb
noun
Morphological type: simple
Topics: climatology
government
meteorology
natural-sciences
politics
Etymology: The verb is derived from Middle English thawen, thowen (“to melt (ice, snow, etc.), thaw”), from Old English þāwian, *þāwan (“to thaw”), from Proto-West Germanic *þauwjan (“to melt, thaw; to digest; to dissolve”), from Proto-Germanic *þawjaną (“to thaw”), from Proto-Indo-European *teh₂- (“to melt; to flow, stream”).
The noun is derived from Late Middle English thawe, thowe (“melting of ice, snow, etc., thawing”), from thawen, thowen (verb) (see above).
cognates
* Dutch dooien (“to thaw”)
* German tauen (“to thaw”)
* German Low German deien (“to thaw”)
* Icelandic þeyja (“to thaw”)
* Saterland Frisian daie, dauje (“to thaw”)
* Swedish töa (“to thaw”)
* West Frisian teie (“to thaw”)
Inflected forms:
form: thaws
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: thawing
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: thawed
pos: verb
tags: past
form: thawed
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: thawn
pos: verb
tags: nonstandard
participle
past
poetic
rare
form: no-table-tags
pos: verb
tags: table-tags
form: glossary
pos: verb
tags: inflection-template
form: thaw
pos: verb
tags: infinitive
form: thaw
pos: verb
tags: first-person
present
singular
form: thawed
pos: verb
tags: first-person
past
singular
form: thaw
pos: verb
tags: present
second-person
singular
form: thawest
pos: verb
tags: archaic
present
second-person
singular
form: thawed
pos: verb
tags: past
second-person
singular
form: thawedst
pos: verb
tags: archaic
past
second-person
singular
form: thaws
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: thaweth
pos: verb
tags: archaic
present
singular
third-person
form: thawed
pos: verb
tags: past
singular
third-person
form: thaw
pos: verb
tags: plural
present
form: thawed
pos: verb
tags: past
plural
form: thaw
pos: verb
tags: present
subjunctive
form: thawed
pos: verb
tags: past
subjunctive
form: thaw
pos: verb
tags: imperative
present
form: -
pos: verb
tags: imperative
past
form: thawing
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: thawed
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: thow
pos: verb
tags: alternative
form: thaws
pos: noun
tags: plural
Senses:
gloss: To gradually cause (something frozen, such as earth, ice, or snow) to melt or soften by raising the temperature.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: Sette the potte to the fyre to thawe the water: […]
Miſlike me not for my complexion, / The ſhadovved liuery of the burniſht ſunne, / To vvhom I am a neighbour,and neere bred. / Bring me the faireſt creature North-vvard borne, / VVhere Phœbus fire ſcarce thawes the yſicles, / And let vs make inciſion for your loue, / To proue vvhoſe blood is reddeſt, his or mine.
The Frame of burniſh'd Steel, that caſt a Glare / From far, and ſeem'd to thavv the freezing Air.
There is a Plant that grovvs on Mount Libanus in Syria, vvhich the Arabian calls the Golden Herb; it begins to appear in the Month of May, after the Snovv is thavvn; in the tvvilight it appears all in a Flame, and continues like a Torch until Morning, vvithout diminution of its Subſtance.
But Mr. Bailly vvill ſooner thavv the eternal ice of his atlantic regions, than reſtore the central heat to Paris, […]
I weep for Adonais—he is dead! / O, weep for Adonais! though our tears / Thaw not the frost which binds so dear a head!
A frosty rime was on his head, and on his eyebrows, and his wiry chin. He carried his own low temperature always about with him; he iced his office in the dog-days; and didn't thaw it one degree at Christmas.
A further complication is that, in the winter, the ore arrives frozen stiff in the wagons and special arrangements have to be made for thawing it before it can be unloaded.
gloss: To gradually cause (someone or something that is very cold) to warm up.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: [M]y very lippes might freeze to my teeth, my tongue to the roofe of my mouth, my heart in my belly, ere I ſhould come by a fire to thavv me, […]
I led him ben but any pingle, / And beekt him bravvly at my ingle; / Dighted his face, his handies thovv'd, / 'Til his young cheeks, like roſes, glovv'd.
After I was lodged, thawed, and fed, I fell asleep, and slept for eighteen hours, without waking once; to my mind, it was a miracle that I ever woke again.
gloss: To cause (something inactive) to become active; also, to cause (something unfeeling) to have feelings.
pos: verb
tags: figuratively
transitive
examples: [N]ovv my loue is thavv'd, / VVhich like a vvaxen Image 'gainſt a fire / Beares no impreſſion of the thing it vvas.
JENNY pretends an Errand Hame, / Young ROGER draps the reſt, / To vvhiſper out his melting Flame, / And thovv his Laſſie's Breaſt.
gloss: To cause (someone or their feelings that are reserved or unfriendly) to become friendly or gentle.
pos: verb
tags: figuratively
transitive
gloss: To cause (something rigid) to become limp.
pos: verb
tags: archaic
figuratively
rare
transitive
examples: "Speak aloud, my lord," said Elizabeth, "and at farther distance, so please you—your breath thaws our ruff. What have you to ask of us?"
gloss: Of something frozen, such as earth, ice, or snow: to gradually melt or soften as a result of the temperature being raised.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: the ice thaws
O that this too too ſallied [sullied] fleſh vvould melt, / Thavv and reſolue it ſelfe into a devve, […]
Tvvo miles hence Eaſtvvard, there ſpreeds it ſelfe abroad a large poole, vvhich the Britans call Linſavethan and Linſavathen, that is, A lake of ſtanding vvater: Giraldus [Gerald of Wales] tearmeth it Clamoſum, that is Clamorous or Crying loud, becauſe it maketh a ſtrange noiſe like thunder, as often as the Yce thereon doth thavv.
I would that as water / My life's blood had thawn, […]
gloss: Of someone or something that is very cold: to gradually warm up.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: The bog's green harper, thawing from his sleep, / Twangs a hoarse note and tried a shortened leap; […]
gloss: With the dummy pronoun it: of the weather: to become sufficiently warm for ice, snow, etc., to melt.
pos: verb
tags: impersonal
intransitive
examples: It’s beginning to thaw.
It Thaweth as the weather dothe whan the froſt breaketh⸝ […] It thaweth a pace: […]
gloss: Of a person or their feelings that are reserved or unfriendly: to become friendly or gentle.
pos: verb
tags: figuratively
intransitive
examples: Her anger has thawed.
The atmosphere at the meeting never really thawed.
gloss: Of something inactive: to become active; also, of something unfeeling: to develop feelings.
pos: verb
tags: figuratively
intransitive
gloss: A gradual melting or softening of something frozen (such as earth, ice, or snow) when the temperature rises; the transformation of something frozen into a fluid or semifluid.
pos: noun
tags: also
attributive
gloss: A gradual warming up of someone or something that is very cold.
pos: noun
tags: also
attributive
examples: raging floods pursue their hasty thaw; / Our thaw was mild , the cold not chased away
gloss: Of something inactive: an act of becoming active; also, of something unfeeling: an act of developing feelings.
pos: noun
tags: also
attributive
figuratively
gloss: Of a person who is reserved or unfriendly: an act of becoming friendly or gentle.
pos: noun
tags: also
attributive
figuratively
gloss: A period of relaxation of restrictions in a country or state; also, a period of increased friendliness or understanding, or of reduced hostility or tension in relations, between states.
pos: noun
tags: also
attributive
figuratively
gloss: A period of weather warm enough to melt ice, snow, etc.
pos: noun
tags: also
attributive
Related words: snowmelt
Derived words: dethaw
freeze-thaw
postthaw
rethaw
thawable
thawed
thawer
thawing
thawingly
thawless
thaw out
unthaw
unthawed
thawy
silver thaw
thaw-drop
thaw wind
under-thaw
Translations:
lang: Finnish
word: tunteellistua
lang: Finnish
word: sulattaa
lang: Finnish
word: sulaa
lang: French
word: fondre
lang: German
word: entspannen