Thaw
[θɔː] or [θɔ]
Definition
(noun.) a relaxation or slackening of tensions or reserve; becoming less hostile; 'the thaw between the United States and Russia has led to increased cooperation in world affairs'.
(noun.) warm weather following a freeze; snow and ice melt; 'they welcomed the spring thaw'.
(noun.) the process whereby heat changes something from a solid to a liquid; 'the power failure caused a refrigerator melt that was a disaster'; 'the thawing of a frozen turkey takes several hours'.
Editor: Lois--From WordNet
Definition
(v. i.) To melt, dissolve, or become fluid; to soften; -- said of that which is frozen; as, the ice thaws.
(v. i.) To become so warm as to melt ice and snow; -- said in reference to the weather, and used impersonally.
(v. i.) Fig.: To grow gentle or genial.
(v. t.) To cause (frozen things, as earth, snow, ice) to melt, soften, or dissolve.
(n.) The melting of ice, snow, or other congealed matter; the resolution of ice, or the like, into the state of a fluid; liquefaction by heat of anything congealed by frost; also, a warmth of weather sufficient to melt that which is congealed.
Editor: Lora
Synonyms and Synonymous
v. n. Melt (after freezing), dissolve, liquefy, become fluid.
v. a. Melt (something frozen), dissolve.
Edited by Karl
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Dissolve, melt, liquefy
ANT:Freeze, congeal, harden
Typist: Malcolm
Definition
v.i. to melt or grow liquid as ice: to become so warm as to melt ice.—v.t. to cause to melt.—n. the melting of ice or snow by heat: the change of weather which causes it.—adj. Thaw′y inclined to thaw.
Typed by Alice
Unserious Contents or Definition
To dream of seeing ice thawing, foretells that some affair which has caused you much worry will soon give you profit and pleasure. To see the ground thawing after a long freeze, foretells prosperous circumstances.
Checker: Witt
Examples
- The moon was set, and it was very dark; Bessie carried a lantern, whose light glanced on wet steps and gravel road sodden by a recent thaw. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- Then do the frozen Dedlocks thaw. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- The Countess allowed herself to thaw under the influence of her husband's quaint comparison. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- A weakness ran over his body, a terrible relaxing, a thaw, a decay of strength. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- She wasted like any snow-wreath in thaw; she faded like any flower in drought. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- She has been very farouche with me for a long time; and is only just beginning to thaw a little from her Zenobia ways. Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell. North and South.
- This reflection thawed my congealing blood, and again the tide of life and love flowed impetuously onward, again to ebb as my busy thoughts changed. Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
- The room must be made warm, the body must be thawed. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- From the portico, from the eaves, from the parapet, from every ledge and post and pillar, drips the thawed snow. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- No soft sense of domestic intimacy ever opened our hearts, or thawed our language and made it flow easy and limpid. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- Already the snow had begun to be foot-thawed again about the door. Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
- Reflects the new Veneering crest, in gold and eke in silver, frosted and also thawed, a camel of all work. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- The distance between us shrank, and the light hoar-frost thawed insensibly. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- Further to the north is the great plain, still steadily thawing and drying. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- It was midwinter and during the siege we had rain and snow, thawing and freezing alternately. Ulysses S. Grant. Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant.
- We were again upon the melancholy road by which we had come, tearing up the miry sleet and thawing snow as if they were torn up by a waterwheel. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- Winter wheat, you are aware, in the freezing and thawing season, is apt to heave out. William Henry Doolittle. Inventions in the Century.
- It is desirable to bury the seed a uniform and proper depth and to throw over the young plant such an amount of soil that it shall not heave with the freezing and thawing. William Henry Doolittle. Inventions in the Century.
- Alternate frosts and thaws succeeding to floods, rendered the country impassable. Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
Inputed by Edgar