# freeze

Pronunciation: say "FREEZ" /ˈfɹiːz/

## Verb

1. To become solid as a result of low temperature, especially in the case of a liquid.
   - Simple: To become solid because the temperature gets very cold.
   - _Mountain streams freeze solid during the coldest months._
   - _The lake froze early this year, well before December._
2. To lower the temperature of something until it turns solid or becomes hard.
   - Simple: To make something cold enough to turn solid or hard.
   - _Fishermen freeze their catch immediately to keep it fresh._
   - _The factory froze the harvested vegetables within hours of picking._
3. To become motionless all at once out of fear, surprise, or intense attention.
   - Simple: To suddenly stop moving because of fear, surprise, or close attention.
   - _Rabbits freeze at the first hint of a hawk overhead._
   - _She froze mid-sentence when the door slammed behind her._
4. Of a machine or software, to come to a sudden halt and stop functioning.
   - Simple: When a computer or program suddenly stops working and won't respond.
   - _Cheap phones often freeze under heavy multitasking._
   - _The application froze midway through saving the file._
5. To cause someone to become unable to move.
   - Simple: To make someone stop moving completely.
   - _A single sharp command can freeze the whole squad._
   - _Sheer terror froze her where she stood._
6. To feel painfully or extremely cold. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: To feel very cold.
   - _Spectators freeze in the open stands during late-season games._
   - _They froze all night in the unheated cabin._
7. To drop to a temperature below zero degrees Celsius, the point at which water turns to ice.
   - Simple: To get cold enough outside that water turns to ice.
   - _Forecasters warn it will freeze across the valley by morning._
   - _It froze hard last night, glazing the roads with ice._
10. To hold prices, wages, or spending at a fixed level, preventing any increase.
   - Simple: To keep prices or spending at the same level so they don't go up.
   - _Lawmakers voted to freeze tuition for the coming year._
   - _The council froze property taxes to ease the burden on residents._
11. To legally block a person from moving, selling, or otherwise using their financial assets.
   - Simple: To officially stop someone from moving or spending the money and property they own.
   - _The government moved to freeze the oligarch's holdings within hours._
   - _Officials froze every account linked to the scheme._
14. To lose warmth of feeling, or to deliberately shut someone out and ostracize them.
   - Simple: To stop being friendly toward someone, or to leave them out on purpose.
   - _Old friends can freeze you out the moment you cross them._
   - _The committee froze the dissenting member out of every decision._
15. To hold something fixed so that it shows no visible change.
   - Simple: To keep something exactly the same so it shows no change.
   - _Designers can freeze a layout to keep it from changing._
   - _The broadcast froze the replay at the moment of contact._
16. To chill someone or something with cold, sometimes enough to cause loss of movement or life.
   - Simple: To make someone or something very cold, sometimes enough to harm them.
   - _Exposure to such temperatures can freeze a stranded climber within hours._
   - _The icy gale froze the sentries at their posts._
17. To trap the puck so that opponents cannot play it.
   - Simple: To trap the puck so the other team cannot play it.
   - _The netminder chose to freeze the puck and force a stoppage._
   - _She froze the puck under her glove as the forwards crashed in._

## Noun

8. A spell of intensely cold weather.
   - Simple: A time of very cold weather.
   - _The deep freeze gripped the region for nearly two weeks._
   - _Citrus growers dread an unexpected freeze in early spring._
9. A halt to an activity or operation that normally continues.
   - Simple: A stop to something that normally keeps going.
   - _Management announced a freeze on overtime payments._
   - _The board defended its freeze order before the unions._
12. A condition in which a single program or an entire computer system stops responding to input.
   - Simple: A time when a program or computer stops working and will not respond to you.
   - _A sudden freeze wiped out an hour of unsaved work._
   - _The software update caused repeated freezes on older machines._
13. An official block on pay raises or on the hiring of new employees.
   - Simple: A rule that stops pay from going up or stops new workers from being hired.
   - _The company announced a freeze on recruitment last quarter._
   - _Workers protested the freeze on their annual raises._
18. A precise draw-weight shot in curling where the thrown stone stops dead against a stationary one, making it nearly impossible to knock out.
   - Simple: A careful curling shot that stops a stone right against another so it is very hard to move.
   - _He played a perfect freeze to guard his point._
   - _Two freezes in a row left the rink with no easy takeout._

## Noun

19. Obsolete form of frieze. *(obsolete)* — Obsolete form of frieze.
   - Simple: Obsolete spelling of frieze. You may see this older form in very old texts.

## Origin

From Middle English fresen, from Old English frēosan ("to freeze"), tracing back through Proto-Germanic *freusaną ("to frost, freeze") to the Proto-Indo-European root *prews- ("to frost, freeze"). It is related to Dutch vriezen, German frieren, Swedish frysa, and even Latin pruīna ("hoarfrost").

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/freeze (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).