freeze Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun the withdrawal of heat to change something from a liquid to a solid
    freezing.
  2. noun weather cold enough to cause freezing
    frost.
  3. noun an interruption or temporary suspension of progress or movement
    halt.
    • a halt in the arms race
    • a nuclear freeze
  4. noun fixing (of prices or wages etc) at a particular level
    • a freeze on hiring
  5. verb stop moving or become immobilized
    stop dead.
    • When he saw the police car he froze
  6. verb change to ice
    • The water in the bowl froze
  7. verb be cold
    • I could freeze to death in this office when the air conditioning is turned on
  8. verb cause to freeze
    • Freeze the leftover food
  9. verb stop a process or a habit by imposing a freeze on it
    suspend.
    • Suspend the aid to the war-torn country
  10. verb be very cold, below the freezing point
    • It is freezing in Kalamazoo
  11. verb change from a liquid to a solid when cold
    freeze out; freeze down.
    • Water freezes at 32 degrees Fahrenheit
  12. verb prohibit the conversion or use of (assets)
    immobilize; immobilise; block.
    • Blocked funds
    • Freeze the assets of this hostile government
  13. verb anesthetize by cold
  14. verb suddenly behave coldly and formally
    • She froze when she saw her ex-husband

WordNet

Freeze noun
Definitions
  1. (Arch.) A frieze. Obs.
Freeze intransitive verb
Etymology
OE. fresen, freosen, AS. freósan; akin to D. vriezen, OHG. iosan, G. frieren, Icel. frjsa, Sw. frysa, Dan. fryse, Goth. frius cold, frost, and prob. to L. prurire to itch, E. prurient, cf. L. prna a burning coal, pruina hoarfrost, Skr. prushva ice, prush to spirt. 18. Cf. Frost.
Wordforms
imperfect Froze ; past participle Frozen ; present participle & verbal noun Freezing
Definitions
  1. To become congealed by cold; to be changed from a liquid to a solid state by the abstraction of heat; to be hardened into ice or a like solid body. ✍ Water freezes at 32° above zero by Fahrenheit's thermometer; mercury freezes at 40° below zero.
  2. To become chilled with cold, or as with cold; to suffer loss of animation or life by lack of heat; as, the blood freezes in the veins.
Freeze transitive verb
Definitions
  1. To congeal; to harden into ice; to convert from a fluid to a solid form by cold, or abstraction of heat.
  2. To cause loss of animation or life in, from lack of heat; to give the sensation of cold to; to chill.
    A faint, cold fear runs through my veins, That almost freezes up the heat of life. Shak.
Freeze noun
Definitions
  1. The act of congealing, or the state of being congealed. Colloq.

Webster 1913