Freeze, v. i. [imp. Froze p. p. Frozen p. pr. & vb. n. Freezing.]
1. To become congealed by cold; to be changed from a liquid to a solid state by the abstraction of heat; to be hardened into ice or a like solid body.
Note: ☞ Water freezes at 32° above zero by Fahrenheit's thermometer; mercury freezes at 40° below zero.
2. To become chilled with cold, or as with cold; to suffer loss of animation or life by lack of heat; as, the blood freezes in the veins.
To freeze up (Fig.), to become formal and cold in demeanor. [Colloq.]
Freez·ing, a. Tending to freeze; for freezing; hence, cold or distant in manner. -- Frrez*ing*ly, adv.
Freezing machine. See Ice machine, under Ice.
Freezing mixture, a mixture (of salt and snow or of chemical salts) for producing intense cold.
Freezing point, that degree of a thermometer at which a fluid begins to freeze; -- applied particularly to water, whose freezing point is at 32° Fahr., and at 0° Centigrade.
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freezing
n : the withdrawal of heat to change something from a liquid to
a solid [syn: freeze]