Frozen Froze Cold Freeze Stop Suddenly Friːz Weather

• water freezes at 0°c.
• it's so cold that even the river has frozen.
• the cold weather had frozen the ground.
• the clothes froze solid on the washing line.

freeze

Verb Forms

1. to become hard, and often turn to ice, as a result of extreme cold; to make something do this
• OPPOSITE thaw
  https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/thaw_2
• Water freezes at 0°C.
• It's so cold that even the river has frozen.
• The cold weather had frozen the ground.
• The clothes froze solid on the washing line.
• The frost had frozen the ground hard.
• Last year's cold spell froze the lake solid.
2. if a pipe, lock or machine freezes, or something freezes it, it becomes blocked with frozen liquid and therefore cannot be used
• The pipes have frozen, so we've got no water.
• I kept the car running to stop the engine freezing up.
• Ten degrees of frost had frozen the lock on the car.
3. when it freezes, the weather is at or below 0° Celsius
• It may freeze tonight, so bring those plants inside.
4. to be very cold; to be so cold that you die
• Every time she opens the window we all freeze.
• Two men froze to death on the mountain.
• Two men were frozen to death on the mountain.
5. to keep something, especially food, at a very low temperature in order to preserve it
• Can you freeze this cake?
• The organ samples were immediately frozen in liquid nitrogen.
6. to be able to be kept at a very low temperature
• Some fruits freeze better than others.
7. to stop moving suddenly because of fear, etc.
• I froze with terror as the door slowly opened.
• The smile froze on her lips.
• The police officer shouted ‘Freeze!’ and the man dropped the gun.
• Suddenly, Ronny seemed to freeze.
• He was so surprised he froze to the spot.
• Maggie's face had frozen into a cold mask.
• She froze with horror when she saw the body.
8. when a computer screen freezes, you cannot move any of the images, etc. on it, because there is a problem with the system
9. to stop a film or video in order to look at a particular picture
• SEE ALSO freeze-frame
  https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/freeze-frame
• Freeze the action there!
10. to hold wages, prices, etc. at a fixed level for a period of time
• SYNONYM peg
  https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/peg_2
• Salaries have been frozen for the current year.
• Prices have been frozen at this level for over a year now.
11. 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.
12. to make you extremely frightened or shocked
13. to suddenly stop because something has frightened or surprised you
• Jess froze in her tracks and took a deep breath.
14. to suddenly make somebody stop by frightening or surprising them; to suddenly stop because something has frightened or surprised you
• The question stopped Alice in her tracks.
• Suddenly he stopped dead in his tracks: what was he doing?
• The disease was stopped in its tracks by immunization programmes.

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.