1. [n]  American poet famous for his lyrical poems on country life in New England (1874-1963)
2. [n]  weather cold enough to cause freezing
3. [n]  the formation of frost or ice on a surface
4. [n]  ice crystals forming a white deposit (especially on objects outside)
5. [v]  decorate with frosting; "frost a cake"

1. \Frost\, n. [OE. frost, forst, AS. forst, frost. fr.
   fre['o]san to freeze; akin to D. varst, G., OHG., Icel.,
   Dan., & Sw. frost. [root]18. See {Freeze}, v. i.]
   1. The act of freezing; -- applied chiefly to the congelation
      of water; congelation of fluids.
   
   2. The state or temperature of the air which occasions
      congelation, or the freezing of water; severe cold or
      freezing weather.
   
            The third bay comes a frost, a killing frost.
                                                  --Shak.
   
   3. Frozen dew; -- called also {hoarfrost} or {white frost}.
   
            He scattereth the frost like ashes.   --Ps. cxlvii.
                                                  16.
   
   4. Coldness or insensibility; severity or rigidity of
      character. [R.]
   
            It was of those moments of intense feeling when the
            frost of the Scottish people melts like a snow
            wreath.                               --Sir W.
                                                  Scott.
   
   {Black frost}, cold so intense as to freeze vegetation and
      cause it to turn black, without the formation of
      hoarfrost.
   
   {Frost bearer} (Physics), a philosophical instrument
      illustrating the freezing of water in a vacuum; a
      cryophous.
   
   {Frost grape} (Bot.), an American grape, with very small,
      acid berries.
   
   {Frost lamp}, a lamp placed below the oil tube of an Argand
      lamp to keep the oil limpid on cold nights; -- used
      especially in lighthouses. --Knight.
   
   {Frost nail}, a nail with a sharp head driven into a horse's
      shoe to keen him from slipping.
   
   {Frost smoke}, an appearance resembling smoke, caused by
      congelation of vapor in the atmosphere in time of severe
      cold.
   
            The brig and the ice round her are covered by a
            strange black obscurity: it is the frost smoke of
            arctic winters.                       --Kane.
   
   {Frost valve}, a valve to drain the portion of a pipe,
      hydrant, pump, etc., where water would be liable to
      freeze.
   
   {Jack Frost}, a popular personification of frost.
   
   

2. \Frost\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Frostted}; p. pr. & vb. n.
   {Frosting}.]
   1. To injure by frost; to freeze, as plants.
   
   2. To cover with hoarfrost; to produce a surface resembling
      frost upon, as upon cake, metals, or glass.
   
            While with a hoary light she frosts the ground.
                                                  --Wordsworth.
   
   3. To roughen or sharpen, as the nail heads or calks of
      horseshoes, so as to fit them for frosty weather.
   
   

(Heb. kerah, from its smoothness) Job 37:10 (R.V., "ice"); Gen. 31:40; Jer. 36:30; rendered "ice" in Job 6:16, 38:29; and "crystal" in Ezek. 1:22. "At the present day frost is entirely unknown in the lower portions of the valley of the Jordan, but slight frosts are sometimes felt on the sea-coast and near Lebanon." Throughout Western Asia cold frosty nights are frequently succeeded by warm days.

"Hoar frost" (Heb. kephor, so called from its covering the ground) is mentioned in Ex. 16:14; Job 38:29; Ps. 147:16.

In Ps. 78:47 the word rendered "frost" (R.V. marg., "great hail-stones"), _hanamal_, occurs only there. It is rendered by Gesenius, the Hebrew lexicographer, "ant," and so also by others, but the usual interpretation derived from the ancient versions may be maintained.