hoar-frostn.
1. The white deposit formed by the freezing of dew, frozen dew, white frost. In scientific use now distinguished from rime. Hoar-frost is a crystalline deposit of ice formed by the sublimation of water vapour; rime is a more amorphous deposit formed by the rapid freezing of supercooled droplets of water when they are brought by air currents into contact with a cold surface.
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the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > cold weather > [noun] > freezing or frosty weather > frost > hoar frost
rimeeOE
frosteOE
rime frostOE
hoar-frostc1290
rain-frostc1300
white frostc1384
griddled frosta1400
hoar-rimec1550
hoar1567
rind1575
frost-dewa1626
cranreuchc1686
c1290 St. Michael 617 in S. Eng. Leg. I. 317 Þe hore-forst [v.r. hor-forst] cometh ȝwane it is so cold þat it freoseth a-nyȝt, And þe Dev freose a-doneward.
1340 Ayenbite (1866) 108 The zonne..wasteþ þe cloudes and þe hore urostes bi þe morȝen.
1535 Bible (Coverdale) Psalms cxlvii. 16 He geueth snowe like woll, & scatereth ye horefrost like ashes.
1644 Z. Boyd Garden of Zion I. 60 Sweet Mannah, round, small as the haire frost.
1730 J. Thomson Autumn in Seasons 178 The rigid hoar-frost melts before his beam.
1880 M. E. Braddon Just as I Am xii All the trees were fairy-trees wreathed with hoar-frost.
1895 T. Russell Meteorol. iii. 53 Hoar-frost is a name given to the curious, regular figures resembling ferns that form on objects, especially on the window-panes in houses... Rime is a thick, heavy frost forming on objects from frozen rain or mist.
1921 A. E. M. Geddes Meteorol. vi. 182 An examination of these crystals shows that they have not been deposited first as water drops, for they are not frozen drops of water. A deposit of this form is called hoar frost.
1967 R. W. Fairbridge Encycl. Atmospheric Sci. & Astrogeol. 402/1 ‘Frost’ has several meanings, most commonly implying hoar-frost or white frost which occurs when the air has been damp, leading to direct sublimation and the building of interlocking ice crystals on exposed surfaces.
2. figurative.
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1852 G. P. Badger Nestorians I. 243 The hoar-frost of care was prematurely sitting upon his locks.
Compounds
C1. General attributive.
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1804 A. Seward Mem. Dr. Darwin 323 A fine picture of an hoar-frost landscape.
C2.
hoar-frost curve n. = hoar-frost line n.
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the world > matter > chemistry > physical chemistry > phases > [noun] > hoar-frost curve
hoar-frost curve1940
1940 S. Glasstone Text-bk. Physical Chem. vi. 459 The vapor pressure curve of ice..is often called the hoar-frost curve.
hoar-frost line n. a line representing the conditions for equilibrium between the solid and the vapour phases of water in the absence of the liquid phase.
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1879 Encycl. Brit. VIII. 731/2 At this point the steam line, ice line, and hoar-frost line intersect, and it has therefore been called the triple point.
Derivatives
ˈhoar-frosty adj.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > cold weather > [adjective] > intensely cold, freezing, or frosty > frosty > characterized by or covered with hoar frost
rimyOE
frosty?a1450
rindy1648
frosted1649
rimed1841
hoar-frosty1845
frost-hoar1853
1845 T. Carlyle in O. Cromwell Lett. & Speeches I. 69 A cold hoarfrosty morning.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1898; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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