hoarfrost

[ hawr-frawst, -frost, hohr- ]
See synonyms for hoarfrost on Thesaurus.com

Origin of hoarfrost

1
First recorded in 1250–1300, hoarfrost is from the Middle English word hor-frost.See hoar, frost

Words Nearby hoarfrost

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use hoarfrost in a sentence

  • She crossed the castle-yard to the wood-cellar, her steps printing the thick hoarfrost.

  • Not till I saw what looked like hoarfrost dropping from the side of the Fall was the problem explained.

    The Yosemite | John Muir
  • The sun had climbed the sky, burning up the hoarfrost and mist, so that the houses opposite had become clearly discernible.

    The Far Horizon | Lucas Malet
  • Only the hoarfrost-resisting flower, as the Chinese call the chrysanthemum, is undimmed, the Chinamen's coats as gay.

    Intimate China | Mrs. Archibald Little
  • Birds awoke in the woods, and hoarfrost lay white on the crisped grasses.

    The Trail Book | Mary Austin

British Dictionary definitions for hoarfrost

hoarfrost

/ (ˈhɔːˌfrɒst) /


noun
  1. a deposit of needle-like ice crystals formed on the ground by direct condensation at temperatures below freezing point: Also called: white frost

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for hoarfrost

hoarfrost

[ hôrfrôst′ ]


  1. Frozen dew that forms a white coating on a surface.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.