Freeze definition
To be at that degree of temperature at which ice forms.
It may freeze tonight.
verb
To be killed or harmed by cold or frost.
They almost froze to death. Mulch keeps garden plants from freezing.
verb
To become clogged or jammed because of the formation of ice.
The pipes froze in the basement.
verb
To be or feel uncomfortably cold.
Aren't you freezing without a coat?
verb
To become rigid and inflexible; solidify.
An opinion that froze into dogma.
verb
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To pass from the liquid to the solid state by loss of heat.
verb
To acquire a surface or coat of ice from cold.
The lake froze over in January. Bridges freeze before the adjacent roads.
verb
To become fixed, stuck, or attached by or as if by frost.
The lock froze up with rust.
verb
To stop functioning properly, usually temporarily.
My computer screen froze when I opened the infected program.
verb
To become motionless or immobile, as from surprise or attentiveness.
I heard a sound and froze in my tracks.
verb
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To become unable to act or speak, as from fear.
Froze in front of the audience.
verb
To preserve (foods, for example) by subjecting to freezing temperatures.
verb
To damage, kill, or make inoperative by cold or by the formation of ice.
verb
To make very cold; chill.
verb
To immobilize, as with fear or shock.
verb
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To chill with an icy or formal manner.
Froze me with one look.
verb
To stop the motion or progress of.
The negotiations were frozen by the refusal of either side to compromise; froze the video in order to discuss the composition of the frame.
verb
To anesthetize by chilling.
verb
(sports) To keep possession of (a ball or puck) so as to deny an opponent the opportunity to score.
verb
To convert into ice.
verb
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To cause ice to form upon.
verb
To cause to congeal or stiffen from extreme cold.
Winter cold that froze the ground.
verb
To fix (prices or wages, for example) at a given or current level.
verb
To prohibit further manufacture or use of.
verb
To prevent or restrict the exchange, withdrawal, liquidation, or granting of by governmental action.
Freeze investment loans during a depression; froze foreign assets held by US banks.
verb
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A spell of cold weather; a frost.
noun
A restriction that forbids a quantity from rising above a given or current level.
A freeze on city jobs; a proposed freeze on the production of nuclear weapons.
noun
The act of freezing.
noun
The state of being frozen.
noun
To be formed into ice; be hardened or solidified by cold.
verb
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To become covered or clogged with ice.
verb
To be or become very cold.
verb
To become attached by freezing.
Wheels frozen to the ground.
verb
To die or be damaged by exposure to cold.
verb
To become motionless or fixed.
verb
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To be made momentarily speechless or unable to move or act by a strong, sudden emotion.
To freeze with terror.
verb
To become formal, haughty, or unfriendly.
verb
(mech.) To stick or become tight as a result of expansion from overheating, of increased friction due to inadequate lubrication or corrosion, etc.
verb
To cause to form into ice; harden or solidify by cold.
verb
To cover or clog with ice.
verb
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To make very cold; chill.
verb
To remove sensation from, as with a local anesthetic.
verb
To preserve (food) by solidifying it through rapid refrigeration; quick-freeze.
verb
To make fixed or attached by freezing.
verb
To kill or damage by exposure to cold.
verb
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To make or keep motionless or stiff.
verb
To frighten or discourage by cool behavior, unfriendliness, etc.
verb
To make formal, haughty, or unfriendly.
verb
To fix (prices, employment, an employee, etc.) at a given level or place by authoritative regulation.
verb
To stop consumer production or use of (a critical material), as in wartime.
verb
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To make (funds, assets, etc.) unavailable to the owners.
verb
To suspend the production of (weapons, esp. nuclear weapons)
verb
A freezing or being frozen.
noun
A period of cold, freezing weather; a frost.
noun
To change from a liquid to a solid state by cooling or being cooled to the freezing point.
To lower something's temperature to the point that it freezes or becomes hard.
Don't freeze meat twice.
verb
(intransitive) To drop to a temperature below zero degrees celsius, where water turns to ice.
It didn't freeze this winter, but last winter was very harsh.
verb
(intransitive, informal) To be affected by extreme cold.
It's freezing in here!
Don't go outside wearing just a t-shirt; you'll freeze!
verb
(figuratively) To lose or cause to lose warmth of feeling; to shut out; to ostracize.
Over time, he froze towards her, and ceased to react to her friendly advances.
verb
To cause loss of animation or life in, from lack of heat; to give the sensation of cold to; to chill.
verb
The court froze the criminal's bank account.
verb
(computing) The state when either a single computer program, or the whole system ceases to respond to inputs.
noun
(curling) A precise draw weight shot where a delivered stone comes to a stand-still against a stationary stone, making it nearly impossible to knock out.
noun
To freeze is defined as to become frozen, to make something frozen or to stop moving.
An example of to freeze is for water to turn into ice cubes.
An example of to freeze is for a child to suddenly stop when he sees his mother catching him steal a cookie.
verb
freeze (someone's) blood
- To affect with terror or dread; horrify:A scream that froze my blood.
idiom
freeze (on) to
- to cling to; hold fast to
idiom
freeze out
- to die out through freezing, as plants do
- to keep out or force out by a cold manner, by competition, etc.
idiom
Idioms and Phrasal Verbs
Origin of freeze
- Middle English fresen from Old English frēosan preus- in Indo-European roots
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
- From Middle English fresen, from Old English frēosan (“to freeze”), from Proto-Germanic *freusaną (“to frost, freeze”), from Proto-Indo-European *prews- (“to frost, freeze”). Cognate with Scots frese (“to freeze”), West Frisian frieze (“to freeze”), Dutch vriezen (“to freeze”), Low German freren, freern, fresen (“to freeze”), German frieren (“to freeze”), Swedish frysa (“to freeze”), Latin pruīna (“hoarfrost”), Welsh (Northern) rhew (“frost, ice”), and Sanskrit प्रुष्व (pruṣvá, “water drop, frost”).
From Wiktionary
- See the above verb.
From Wiktionary