Link Centre Dictionary

freeze

UK/ˈfɹiːz/ US/ˈfriz/ common informal
verb (10) noun (4)

verb

1.

change to ice

  • “The water in the bowl froze”
Antonyms
2.

stop moving or become immobilized

  • “When he saw the police car he froze”
Synonyms
3.

be cold

  • “I could freeze to death in this office when the air conditioning is turned on”
4.

cause to freeze

  • “Freeze the leftover food”
5.

stop a process or a habit by imposing a freeze on it

  • “Suspend the aid to the war-torn country”
Synonyms
6.

be very cold, below the freezing point

  • “It is freezing in Kalamazoo”
7.

change from a liquid to a solid when cold

  • “Water freezes at 32 degrees Fahrenheit”
Synonyms
8.

prohibit the conversion or use of (assets)

  • “Blocked funds”
  • “Freeze the assets of this hostile government”
Synonyms
Antonyms
9.
10.

suddenly behave coldly and formally

  • “She froze when she saw her ex-husband”

noun

1.

the withdrawal of heat to change something from a liquid to a solid

Synonyms
2.
3.

an interruption or temporary suspension of progress or movement

  • “a halt in the arms race”
  • “a nuclear freeze”
Synonyms
4.

fixing (of prices or wages etc) at a particular level

  • “a freeze on hiring”

Origin

From Middle English fresen, from Old English frēosan (“to freeze”), from Proto-West Germanic *freusan, from Proto-Germanic *freusaną (“to freeze”), from Proto-Indo-European *prews- (“to freeze; frost”). Cognates Cognate with North Frisian friis, friise, früüs (“to freeze”), Saterland Frisian fjoose, frjoze (“to freeze”), West Frisian frieze (“to freeze”), Central Franconian freese (“to freeze”), Cimbrian briizan, vriizan (“to be cold”), Dutch vriezen (“to freeze”), Low German freren, fresen (“to freeze”), Luxembourgish fréieren (“to freeze”), German frieren (“to freeze”), Yiddish פֿרירן (frirn, “freeze”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål fryse (“to freeze”), Icelandic frjósa (“to freeze”), Norwegian Nynorsk frysa, fryse (“to freeze”), Swedish frysa (“to freeze”); also Cornish rew (“frost, ice”), Irish reo (“frost”), reoigh (“to freeze”), Manx rio (“frost, ice”), Scottish Gaelic reòdh, reòth (“freeze”), Welsh rhew (“frost, ice”), Latin pruīna (“hoarfrost, rime”), Albanian prush (“embers”), Lithuanian prausti (“to give showers of rain”), Czech prskat (“to splutter, sputter”), Macedonian прска (prska, “to spray, sprinkle”), Polish pryskać, prysnąć (“to spray, sprinkle”), Russian пры́ска...

Phrases

  • brain freeze
  • cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey
  • deep freeze
  • freeze baby
  • freeze brand
  • freeze chest
  • freeze distillation
  • freeze frame
  • freeze tag
  • hard freeze
  • rent freeze

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

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Entails

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.