/ friːz; NAmE / verb , noun
■ verb
( froze / frəʊz; NAmE froʊz/ fro·zen / ˈfrəʊzn; NAmE ˈfroʊzn/)
BECOME ICE
1.
to become hard, and often turn to ice, as a result of extreme cold; to make sth do this :
[ v ]
Water freezes at 0°C.
It's so cold that even the river has frozen.
[ vn ]
The cold weather had frozen the ground.
[ v - adj ]
The clothes froze solid on the washing-line.
OPP thaw
OF PIPE / LOCK / MACHINE
2.
freeze (sth) (up) if a pipe, lock or machine freezes , or sth freezes it, it becomes blocked with frozen liquid and therefore cannot be used :
[ v ]
The pipes have frozen, so we've got no water.
[ vn ]
Ten degrees of frost had frozen the lock on the car.
OF WEATHER
3.
[ v ] when it freezes , the weather is at or below 0° Celsius :
It may freeze tonight, so bring those plants inside.
BE VERY COLD
4.
to be very cold; to be so cold that you die :
[ v ]
Every time she opens the window we all freeze.
[ v , vn ]
Two men froze to death on the mountain.
Two men were frozen to death on the mountain.
FOOD
5.
[ vn ] to keep food at a very low temperature in order to preserve it :
Can you freeze this cake?
These meals are ideal for home freezing.
6.
[ v ] to be able to be kept at a very low temperature :
Some fruits freeze better than others.
STOP MOVING
7.
[ v ] to stop moving suddenly because of fear, etc. :
I froze with terror as the door slowly opened.
( figurative )
The smile froze on her lips.
The police officer shouted 'Freeze!' and the man dropped the gun.
COMPUTER
8.
[ v ] when a computer screen freezes , you cannot move any of the images, etc. on it, because there is a problem with the system
FILM / MOVIE
9.
[ vn ] to stop a film / movie or video in order to look at a particular picture :
Freeze the action there!
—see also freeze-frame
WAGES / PRICES
10.
[ vn ] to hold wages, prices, etc. at a fixed level for a period of time
SYN peg :
Salaries have been frozen for the current year.
MONEY / BANK ACCOUNT
11.
[ vn ] to prevent money, a bank account, etc. from being used by getting a court order which bans it :
The company's assets have been frozen.
•
IDIOMS
- freeze your blood | make your blood freeze
—more at track noun
•
PHRASAL VERBS
- freeze sb out (of sth)
- freeze over
■ noun
OF WAGES / PRICES
1.
the act of keeping wages, prices, etc. at a particular level for a period of time :
a wage / price freeze
STOPPING STH
2.
[ usually sing. ] freeze (on sth) the act of stopping sth :
a freeze on imports
COLD WEATHER
3.
[ usually sing. ] ( BrE ) an unusually cold period of weather during which temperatures stay below 0° Celsius :
Farmers still talk about the big freeze of '99.
4.
( NAmE ) a short period of time, especially at night, when the temperature is below 0° Celsius :
A freeze warning was posted for Thursday night.
••
WORD ORIGIN
Old English frēosan (in the phrase hit frēoseth it is freezing ), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch vriezen and German frieren , from an Indo-European root shared by Latin pruina hoar frost and frost .