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Thawing

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thaw

  [thaw]
Use Thawing in a Sentence
–verb (used without object)
1. to pass or change from a frozen to a liquid or semiliquid state; melt.
2. to be freed from the physical effect of frost or extreme cold (sometimes fol. by out): Sit by the fire and thaw out.
3. (of the weather) to become warm enough to melt ice and snow: It will probably thaw today.
4. to become less formal, reserved, or aloof: He thawed at their kindness.
5. to become less hostile or tense: International relations thawed.
–verb (used with object)
6. to cause to change from a frozen to a liquid or semiliquid state; melt.
7. to free from the physical effect of frost or extreme cold; bring to a more normal temperature, esp. to room temperature: I took the steaks out of the freezer and thawed them.
8. to make less cold, formal, or reserved.
9. to make less tense or hostile.
–noun
10. the act or process of thawing.
11. the act or fact of becoming less formal, reserved, or aloof.
12. a reduction or easing in tension or hostility.
13. (in winter or in areas where freezing weather is the norm) weather warm enough to melt ice and snow.
14. a period of such weather: We had a two-week thaw in January.
15. the thaw, the first day in the year when ice in harbors, rivers, etc., breaks up or loosens enough to begin flowing to the sea, allowing navigation: The Anchorage thaw came on May 18th.
Origin:
bef. 1000; (v.) ME thawen, OE thawian; c. D dooien, ON theyja; (n.) late ME, deriv. of the v.

Related forms:
thawless, adjective

Synonyms:
1. See melt. 2, 8. warm.

Antonyms:
1. freeze.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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thaw   (thô)   
v.   thawed, thaw·ing, thaws

v.   intr.

  1. To change from a frozen solid to a liquid by gradual warming.

  2. To lose stiffness, numbness, or impermeability by being warmed: left the frozen turkey out until it thawed; thawed out by sitting next to the stove.

  3. To become warm enough for snow and ice to melt.

  4. To become less formal, aloof, or reserved.

v.   tr.
To cause to thaw.
n.  

  1. The process of thawing.

  2. A period of warm weather during which ice and snow melt.

  3. A relaxation of reserve, restraints, or tensions.


[Middle English thawen, from Old English thawian.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

thaw  (v.)
O.E. þawian, from P.Gmc. *thawojanan (cf. O.N. þeyja, M.L.G. doien, Du. dooien, O.H.G. douwen, Ger. tauen "to thaw"), from PIE base *ta- "to melt, dissolve" (cf. Skt. toyam "water," Ossetic thayun "to thaw," Welsh tawadd "molten," Doric Gk. takein "to melt, waste, be consumed," O.Ir. tam "pestilence," L. tabes "a melting, wasting away, putrefaction," O.C.S. tajati "to melt"). The noun is c.1400, from the verb. Fig. sense of "relaxation of political harshness or hostility" is recorded from 1950, an image from the Cold War.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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