freeze

• IPA^(key): /ˈfɹiːz/

• Audio (US)

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• Rhymes: -iːz
• Homophones: frees, frieze

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”), Norwegian fryse, Swedish frysa (“to freeze”), Latin pruīna (“hoarfrost”), Welsh (Northern) rhew (“frost, ice”), and Sanskrit प्रुष्व (pruṣvá, “water drop, frost”).

freeze (third-person singular simple present freezes, present participle freezing, simple past froze, past participle frozen)

1. (intransitive) Especially of a liquid, to become solid due to low temperature.
   • 1855, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Song of Hiawatha, Book XX: The Famine,

     Ever thicker, thicker, thicker / Froze the ice on lake and river,

   • 1913, Willa Cather, O Pioneers!, Winter Memories, I,

     He got to Dawson before the river froze, and now I suppose I won't hear any more until spring.

   • 1915, Eleanor Stackhouse Atkinson, The How and Why Library: Wonders, Section II: Water,

     Running water does not freeze as easily as still water.

2. (transitive) To lower something's temperature to the point that it freezes or becomes hard.

   Don't freeze meat twice.

   • 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. (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.

4. (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!

5. (intransitive) (of machines and software) To come to a sudden halt, stop working (functioning).

   Since the last update, the program freezes / freezes up after a few minutes of use.

6. (intransitive) (of people and other animals) To stop (become motionless) or be stopped due to attentiveness, fear, surprise, etc.

   Despite all of the rehearsals, I froze up as soon as I got on stage.

   • 1916, Edgar Rice Burroughs, chapter III, in Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar:

     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.

   • 1935, Robert E. Howard, chapter IV, in Jewels of Gwahlur:

     They froze on their knees, their faces turned upward with a ghastly blue hue in the sudden glare of a weird light that burst blindingly up near the lofty roof and then burned with a throbbing glow.

7. (transitive) To cause someone to become motionless.
   • 1934, Agatha Christie, chapter 4, in Murder on the Orient Express, London: HarperCollins, published 2017, page 102:

     Dr Constantine sniggered and Mrs Hubbard immediately froze him with a glance.

8. (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.

   • 1898, Robert Burns, John George Dow (editor), Selections from the poems of Robert Burns, page lviii,

     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.

   • 1968, Ronald Victor Sampson, The Psychology of Power, page 134:

     His friends begin to freeze towards him, the pillars of society cut him publicly, his clients cool off, big business deals no longer come his way, he is increasingly conscious of social ostracism and the puzzled misgivings of his wife.

   • 1988, Edward Holland Spicer, Kathleen M. Sands, Rosamond B. Spicer, People of Pascua, page 37,

     If you cheat them, they don't say anything but after that they freeze towards you.

9. To cause loss of animation or life in, from lack of heat; to give the sensation of cold to; to chill.
   • Shakespeare

     A faint, cold fear runs through my veins, / That almost freezes up the heat of life.

10. (transitive) To prevent the movement or liquidation of a person's financial assets

    The court froze the criminal's bank account.

• (become solid): solidify
• (stop functioning): freeze up, grind to a halt, hang, lock up, seize, seize up
• (cause someone to become motionless): halt, immobilize; See also Thesaurus:immobilize

• (become solid): defrost, liquify, unfreeze

• (become solid): deep-freeze

• frost

See the above verb.

freeze (plural freezes)

1. A period of intensely cold weather.
   • 2009, Pietra Rivoli, The Travels of a T-shirt in the Global Economy, 2nd Edition, page 38,

     In order to work properly, the cotton stripper required that the plant be brown and brittle, as happened after a freeze, so that the cotton bolls could snap off easily.

2. A halt of a regular operation.
   • 1982 October, William Epstein, The freeze: a hot issue at the United Nations, in Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists,

     Without a freeze it might be possible to proceed with the production and deployment of such destabilizing systems as the MX, Trident II, cruise missiles and SS-18s, -19s and -20s.

   • 1983 October 3, Ted Kennedy, speech, Truth and Tolerance in America,

     Critics may oppose the nuclear freeze for what they regard as moral reasons.

   • 1985 April 27, Ronald Reagan, Presidential Radio Address,

     Many of our opponents in Congress are advocating a freeze in Federal spending and an increase in taxes.

3. (computing) The state when either a single computer program, or the whole system ceases to respond to inputs.
4. (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.
   • 2006, Bob Weeks, Curling for Dummies, page 143:

     The reason I said the guard wasn't the toughest shot in curling is because, in my book, that's a shot called the freeze. A stone thrown as a freeze comes perfectly to rest directly in front of another stone, without moving it (see Figure 10-5).

5. (specifically, in finance) A block on pay rises.

• (computer) hang

freeze (plural freezes)

1. Obsolete form of frieze.