frost

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /frɒst/, US /frɑːst/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English frost, inherited from Old English forst, also frost,^[2][3][4] from Proto-Germanic *frustaz (“frost”),^[3][4] formed from *freusanan (“to freeze”) (see freeze),^[3][4] from Proto-Indo-European *preus- (“to freeze”).^[3] It is cognate with Old Saxon frost, Old Frisian frost, Old High German frost, Dutch vorst and Old Norse frost.^[2][3][5] Forst was the commoner Old English form until the late 15th century;^[3] Hoad thinks frost won through Old Norse influence,^[4] Etymonline through its likeness to the other Germanic forms.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Freezing, extreme cold: before 700 in the OED;^[6] about 725 as forst in Barnhart, with frost before 800.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Frozen dew or vapour, hoarfrost, is from before 1000,^[6] and figurative uses from about 1200;^[6] coldness of manner is from 1635.^[6] A black frost, one that kills plants without visible rime, is from the late 14th century.^[3] Jack Frost appears in the 18th century.^[7] The slang sense of a failure began in the theatre (1886).^[6] The verb, to cover with frost, is from the 1630s in Etymonline or 1572 in Merriam-Webster,^[3][5] and to freeze from 1807.^[3] Frosty is from the 14th century.^[4] In dialects of Scotland, Ireland and England a duck's frost was a drizzling rain.^[8]

Timeline

• before 700 – freezing, extreme cold.^[6]
• before 1000 – frozen dew, hoarfrost.^[6]
• c. 1200 – figurative frost.^[6]
• 1572 – to frost (verb).^[5]
• 1635 – coldness of manner.^[6]
• 1886 – a failure (slang).^[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A deposit of tiny ice crystals formed when water vapour freezes, especially on objects outdoors at night; hoarfrost.
2. A temperature low enough to cause freezing.
3. Degrees below freezing point: eight degrees of frost.
4. Coldness of manner.
5. (informal) A failure.

Verb

1. To cover with frost, or to become covered with it.
2. To damage or kill by frost.
3. To give glass a roughened, translucent surface.
4. To cover a cake with icing.

Word family

• frostless
• frostlike
• frostbite
• frostbitten
• frosty
• hoarfrost
• permafrost
• defrost

Related words

• freeze
• frore

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)