THAW • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Thaw

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/θɔ/ Listen

noun

thaw 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.

verb

thaw v. t. To cause (frozen things, as earth, snow, ice) to melt, soften, or dissolve.

thaw v. i. (past & past part. thawed; pres. part. thawing)

To melt, dissolve, or become fluid; to soften; said of that which is frozen; as, the ice thaws.

To become so warm as to melt ice and snow; said in reference to the weather, and used impersonally.

Fig.: To grow gentle or genial. Compare cold (4), a. and hard (6), a.

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Etymology of 'Thaw'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Thaw" Quotes from Famous Books

... inspired him, and vanity was satisfied: the easier, therefore, to stop. Would you like to make the woman unhappy, Tommy? You know you would not; you have somewhere about you one of the softest hearts in the world. Then desist; be satisfied that you did thaw her once, and grateful that she so quickly froze again. "I am; indeed I am," he responds. "No one could have himself better in hand for the time being than I, and if a competition in morals were now going on, I should certainly take the medal. But I cannot speak for myself an hour in ...

— Tommy and Grizel • J.M. Barrie

... through the night, and in the morning sure enough they came; and out we ran through the snow, for the snow was on the ground, and there was Jan alive and well, but a bit tired. But there wasn't no time for rest; and we had to go on to once. The rain came down, the snow began to thaw, and the roads was so slushy and heavy that it was miserable travelling. The men was angry too at turning away from the French, and they kept asking if the time wasn't never coming to halt: but on ...

— The Drummer's Coat • J. W. Fortescue

... pose in the light of a heroine or a culprit as she walked into Mrs. Rawlins' kitchen, but decided to give as guarded an account of the matter as she could. There would be explanations in plenty when she returned to the Parsonage. She was very glad to sit and thaw by the fire and drink hot tea, despite the difficulty of fencing with Mrs. Rawlins' questions, that good dame being consumed with curiosity, and not restrained by any feelings of delicacy from ...

— The Youngest Girl in the Fifth - A School Story • Angela Brazil

... here," she said, shuddering; "I think I shall never be warm again. I am always freezing, and this miserable frost has turned my heart and soul to ice. I would like to know if they will thaw in the grave?" ...

— Frederick The Great and His Family • L. Muhlbach

... boarding-houses,—the memory of mine will never die,—and in fact our round bodies were beginning to fit themselves to the square holes they were expected to fill for the next few weeks, when we found ourselves sneezing and coughing our way through that spirit-crushing thing they call a "February thaw." Rehearsal had been long, and I was tired. I had quite a distance to walk, and my mind was full of professional woe. Here was I, a ballet girl who had taken a cold whose proportions simply towered over that ...

— Stage Confidences • Clara Morris

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