hoarfrost

See also: hoar-frost and hoar frost

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Middle English horfrost, hoorfrost hore vrost, equivalent to hoar +‎ frost.

Noun

hoarfrost (usually uncountable, plural hoarfrosts)

  1. Dew-drops which have undergone deposition and frozen into ice crystals to form a white deposit on an exposed surface, when the air is cold and moist.
    Coordinate terms: dew, glaze, rime
    • 1922, A. M. Chisholm, A Thousand a Plate
      In the mornings hoar-frost lay thick upon the ground, and thin ice formed in currentless shallows and overlay the muskrat runways.

Translations

Further reading
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