Advertisement

Want to remove ads? Log in to see fewer ads, and become a Premium Member to remove all ads.

Origin and history of frozen

frozen(adj.)

mid-14c., "congealed by cold; turned to or covered with ice," past-participle adjective from freeze (v.). Figurative use is from 1570s. Of assets, bank accounts, etc., from 1922.

also from mid-14c.

Entries linking to frozen

freeze(v.)

alteration of freese, friese, from Middle English fresen, from Old English freosan (intransitive) "turn to ice" (class II strong verb; past tense freas, past participle froren), from Proto-Germanic *freusan "to freeze" (source also of Dutch vriezen, Old Norse frjosa, Old High German friosan, German frieren "to freeze," and related to Gothic frius "frost"), from Proto-Germanic *freus-, equivalent to PIE root *preus- "to freeze," also "to burn" (source also of Sanskrit prusva, Latin pruina "hoarfrost," Welsh rhew "frost," Sanskrit prustah "burnt," Albanian prus "burning coals," Latin pruna "a live coal").

Of weather, "be cold enough to freeze," 13c. Meaning "perish from cold" is c. 1300. Transitive sense "harden into ice, congeal as if by frost" first recorded late 14c.; figurative sense late 14c., "make hard or unfeeling." Intransitive meaning "become rigid or motionless" attested by 1720. Sense of "fix at a certain level" is from 1933; of assets, "make non-transactable," from 1922. Freeze frame is from 1960, originally "a briefly Frozen Shot after the Jingle to allow ample time for Change over at the end of a T.V. 'Commercial.' " ["ABC of Film & TV," 1960].

    Advertisement

    Want to remove ads? Log in to see fewer ads, and become a Premium Member to remove all ads.

    Trends of frozen

    adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

    More to explore

    frigid
    1620s, "intensely cold," from Latin frigidus "cold, chill, cool," figuratively "indifferent," also "flat, dull, trivial," from stem of frigere "be cold;" related to noun frigus "cold, coldness, frost," from Proto-Italic *srigos-, from PIE root *srig- "cold" (source also of Greek
    glacial
    1650s, "cold, icy," from French glacial or directly from Latin glacialis "icy, frozen, full of ice," from glacies "ice," probably from a suffixed form of PIE root *gel- "cold; to freeze" (source also of Latin gelu "frost"). Geological sense "pertaining to glaciers" apparently was
    frost
    Old English forst, frost "frost, a freezing, frozen precipitation, extreme cold," from Proto-Germanic *frustaz "frost" (source...A black frost (late 14c.) is one which kills plants (turns them black) but is not accompanied by visible frozen dew....
    Charles's Wain
    the identification "may have arisen from Aristotle's idea that its prototype was the only creature that dared invade the frozen...
    put-out
    "offended, angry, upset," by 1887, from the verbal phrase in the sense of "offend," attested by 1822; see put (v.) + out (adv.). Perhaps via the earlier sense of "cause to lose self-possession, disconcert" (1580s). The verbal phrase is from mid-14c. as "drive out, banish, exile;"
    change
    c. 1200, "to alter, make different, change" (transitive); early 13c. as "to substitute one for another;" mid-13c. as "to make (something) other than what it was, cause to turn or pass from one state to another;" from late 13c. as "to become different, be altered" (intransitive),
    modify
    late 14c., modifien, "alter, amend, adjust, change the properties, form, or function of;" also "set limits, keep within the bounds of reason; choose a middle course," from Old French modifier (14c.), from Latin modificare "to limit, measure off, restrain," from modus "measure, ma
    boil
    early 13c. (intransitive) "to bubble up, be in a state of ebullition," especially from heat, from Old French bolir "boil, bubble up, ferment, gush" (12c., Modern French bouillir), from Latin bullire "to bubble, seethe," from PIE *beu- "to swell" (see bull (n.2)). The native word
    interrupt
    c. 1400, "to interfere with a legal right," from Latin interruptus, past participle of interrumpere "break apart, break off, break through," from inter "between" (see inter-) + rumpere "to break" (see rupture (n.), and compare corrupt (adj.)). Meaning "to break into, break in upo
    block
    "solid piece," early 14c., blok, blokke, "large solid piece of wood," usually with one or more plane faces, from Old French bloc "log, block" of wood (13c.), which is from a Germanic source such as Middle Dutch bloc "trunk of a tree," Old High German bloh (from PIE *bhlugo-, from

    Share frozen

    Advertisement

    Want to remove ads? Log in to see fewer ads, and become a Premium Member to remove all ads.

    Trending
    Dictionary entries near frozen
    Advertisement

    Want to remove ads? Log in to see fewer ads, and become a Premium Member to remove all ads.

    Want to remove ads? Log in to see fewer ads, and become a Premium Member to remove all ads.