freeze
(frēz)v. froze (frōz), fro·zen (frō′zən), freez·ing, freez·es
v.intr.1. a. To pass from the liquid to the solid state by loss of heat.
b. To acquire a surface or coat of ice from cold: The lake froze over in January. Bridges freeze before the adjacent roads.
2. To become clogged or jammed because of the formation of ice: The pipes froze in the basement.
3. To be at that degree of temperature at which ice forms: It may freeze tonight.
4. To be killed or harmed by cold or frost: They almost froze to death. Mulch keeps garden plants from freezing.
5. To be or feel uncomfortably cold: Aren't you freezing without a coat?
6. a. To become fixed, stuck, or attached by or as if by frost: The lock froze up with rust.
b. To stop functioning properly, usually temporarily: My computer screen froze when I opened the infected program.
7. a. To become motionless or immobile, as from surprise or attentiveness: I heard a sound and froze in my tracks.
b. To become unable to act or speak, as from fear: froze in front of the audience.
8. To become rigid and inflexible; solidify: an opinion that froze into dogma.
v.tr.1. a. To convert into ice.
b. To cause ice to form upon.
c. To cause to congeal or stiffen from extreme cold: winter cold that froze the ground.
2. To preserve (foods, for example) by subjecting to freezing temperatures.
3. To damage, kill, or make inoperative by cold or by the formation of ice.
4. To make very cold; chill.
5. To immobilize, as with fear or shock.
6. To chill with an icy or formal manner: froze me with one look.
7. 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.
8. a. To fix (prices or wages, for example) at a given or current level.
b. To prohibit further manufacture or use of.
c. 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.
9. To anesthetize by chilling.
10. Sports To keep possession of (a ball or puck) so as to deny an opponent the opportunity to score.
n.1. a. The act of freezing.
b. The state of being frozen.
2. A spell of cold weather; a frost.
3. 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.
Phrasal Verb: freeze out To shut out or exclude, as by cold or unfriendly treatment: The others tried to freeze me out of the conversation.
Idiom: freeze (someone's) blood To affect with terror or dread; horrify: a scream that froze my blood.
freez′a·ble adj.
Word History: Describing the landscape of Hell in Book II of Paradise Lost, Milton depicts "a frozen Continent ... beat with perpetual storms ... the parching Air Burns frore, and cold performs th' effect of Fire." It is evident from these lines that frore has some relationship to frozen, but what exactly is it? The Modern English paradigm for the verb freeze is freeze, froze, frozen, with a z throughout. However, in Old English, the principal parts were frēosan, frēas, froren. The r in the past participle froren is from a prehistoric s that became r by Verner's Law, a sound shift that changed s in certain positions into r. (The effects of Verner's Law can also be seen in such Modern English pairs as was and were, and lose and (love-)lorn.) During the Middle English period, a new past participle frosen was created using the s from the first two principal parts; this survives as frozen nowadays. The older participle, spelled froren or frore in Middle English, lived on as a poetic word for "cold," but well before Milton's day it had become archaic in the standard language.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
freeze
(friːz) vb,
freezes,
freezing,
froze (
frəʊz)
or frozen (
ˈfrəʊzən)
1. to change (a liquid) into a solid as a result of a reduction in temperature, or (of a liquid) to solidify in this way, esp to convert or be converted into ice
2. (when: intr, sometimes foll by over or up) to cover, clog, or harden with ice, or become so covered, clogged, or hardened: the lake froze over last week.
3. to fix fast or become fixed (to something) because of the action of frost
4. (tr) to preserve (food) by subjection to extreme cold, as in a freezer
5. to feel or cause to feel the sensation or effects of extreme cold
6. to die or cause to die of frost or extreme cold
7. to become or cause to become paralysed, fixed, or motionless, esp through fear, shock, etc: he froze in his tracks.
8. (Film) (tr) to cause (moving film) to stop at a particular frame
9. to decrease or cause to decrease in animation or vigour
10. to make or become formal, haughty, etc, in manner
11. (Economics) (tr) to fix (prices, incomes, etc) at a particular level, usually by government direction
12. (Banking & Finance) (tr) to forbid by law the exchange, liquidation, or collection of (loans, assets, etc)
13. (Commerce) (tr) to prohibit the manufacture, sale, or use of (something specified)
14. (tr) to stop (a process) at a particular stage of development
15. (Medicine) (tr) informal to render (tissue or a part of the body) insensitive, as by the application or injection of a local anaesthetic
16. informal chiefly (foll by: onto) US to cling
n17. the act of freezing or state of being frozen
18. (Physical Geography) meteorol a spell of temperatures below freezing point, usually over a wide area
19. (Economics) the fixing of incomes, prices, etc, by legislation
20. another word for
frost sentence substitutechiefly US a command to stop still instantly or risk being shot
[Old English frēosan; related to Old Norse frjōsa, Old High German friosan, Latin prūrīre to itch; see frost]
ˈfreezable adj
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
freeze
(friz)
v. froze, fro•zen, freez•ing,
n. v.i. 1. to become hardened into ice or into a solid body; change from the liquid to the solid state by loss of heat.
2. to become hard or stiffened because of loss of heat.
3. to suffer the effects or sensation of intense cold: We froze until the heat came on.
4. to be of the degree of cold at which water freezes: It may freeze tonight.
5. to lose warmth of feeling: My heart froze at the news.
6. to become speechless or immobilized.
7. to stop suddenly and remain motionless: I froze in my tracks.
8. to become obstructed by the formation of ice: The water pipes froze.
9. to die or be injured because of frost or cold.
10. to become fixed to something by or as if by the action of frost.
11. to become unfriendly, secretive, or aloof (often fol. by up).
12. to become temporarily inoperable; cease to function (often fol. by up): The new software makes my computer freeze.
v.t. 13. to change from a fluid to a solid form by loss of heat; congeal.
14. to form ice on the surface of.
15. to harden or stiffen (an object containing moisture) by cold.
16. to quick-freeze.
17. to subject to freezing temperature.
18. to cause to suffer the effects of intense cold.
19. to chill with fear.
20. to immobilize with fright or alarm.
21. to kill by frost or cold: A late snow froze the buds.
22. to fix fast with ice: a sled frozen to a sidewalk.
23. to obstruct or close by the formation of ice: Cold had frozen the pipes.
24. to fix (rents, prices, etc.) at a specific amount, usu. by government order.
25. to stop or limit production, use, or development of: an agreement to freeze nuclear weapons.
26. to prevent (assets) from being liquidated or collected.
27. to render (a part of the body) insensitive to pain or slower in its functioning by artificial means.
28. to discourage by unfriendly or aloof behavior.
29. to photograph (a moving subject) at a shutter speed fast enough to produce an unblurred, seemingly motionless image.
30. to stop by means of a freeze-frame mechanism.
31. to maintain possession of (a ball or puck) for as long as possible usu. without trying to score.
32. freeze out, to exclude or compel to withdraw from participation, esp. by cold treatment or severe competition.
33. freeze over, to become coated with ice.
n. 34. an act or instance of freezing.
35. the state of being frozen.
36. a period of very cold weather.
37. a legislative action to control prices, rents, production, etc.
38. a decision by one or more nations to stop or limit production or development of weapons.
[before 1000; Middle English fresen, Old English frēosan]
freez′a•ble, adj.
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.