ppl. a. [f. FROST sb. and v. + -ED.]
1. Injured by frost, frozen, frost-bitten.
1807. Wilkinson, in Pike, Sources Mississ. (1810), II. App. 29. Several large cakes of ice had blocked up the river, and we had to cut our way through them with axes; the boats as usual grounded, and the men bare legged and bare footed, were obliged to leap into the water. This happened so frequently, that two more of my men got badly frosted.
1871. Blackie, Four Phases, i. 13. Socrates alone went about in the open air with no other covering than his common mantle, and trod the frosted ground with his bare feet more lightly than others did with their warm shoes.
1884. Roe, Nat. Ser. Story, ii. Why does sudden heat … destroy a frosted plant?
1892. Times (weekly ed.), 2 Feb., 89/3. Slightly frosted wheat is reduced for flour making purposes perhaps 30 per cent. in value, what is called frozen wheat 50 per cent.
2. Covered (over) with rime or hoar-frost.
1720. Gay, Poems (1745), I. 164.
| When hoary Thames, with frosted oziers crown’d, | |
| Was three long moons in icy fetters bound. |
1842. Motley, Corr. (1889), I. iv. 115. A frozen fog filled the air, the trees were frosted all over with silver, ditto the beards of the venerable coachmen and the manes of the horses.
1858. Hawthorne, Fr. & It. Jrnls. (1872), I. 9. The windows were already frosted with French breath.
1873. Symonds, Grk. Poets, x. 313. Frail tamarisk and tall tree-heaths that wave their frosted boughs above your head.
fig. 1847–8. H. Miller, First Impr., ii. 25. Picturesque incidents … frosted over with the romance of history.
3. Covered with a fine powder or coating resembling rime. Also with over. Frosted cake: cake covered with concreted sugar or ‘icing.’
1698. J. Fryer, A New Account of East-India and Persia, 318. Entring upon the Plains of Dedumbah, we found it all frosted with Salt; for the Waters from the Mountains mixing with the Superficies of the Earth, together with the Sun and drying Winds, incrustate.
1734. Fielding, Old Man taught Wisdom, Wks. 1874, III. 122. His head is ... done all down upon the top with sugar, like a frosted cake.
1796. Kirwan, Elem. Min. (ed. 2), I. 128. Its [Fluor’s] surface mostly smooth, and frosted over with minute crystals.
1856. Emerson, Eng. Traits, Lit., Wks. (Bohn), II. 114. Pope and his school wrote poetry fit to put round a frosted cake.
1887. Lady, 20 Jan., 37/1. The younger [lady] was attired in frosted tulle and snowdrops.
b. spec. in Zool. and Bot. Covered with glistening particles, silvery hairs or scales, etc.
1796. Withering, Brit. Plants (ed. 3), IV. 279. Pileus … when fresh gathered, beautifully frosted over with distinct globular pellucid particles.
1829. Loudon, Encycl. Plants, 1099. Frosted, covered with glittering particles, as if fine dew had been congealed upon it.
1861. Miss Pratt, Flower. Pl., IV. 279. Frosted Sea Orache.
c. Of the hair: Hoary, white.
1645. G. Daniel, Poems, Wks. 1878, II. 64. ’Twould trouble me, when I, with frosted hairs, Should look at what I was.
a. 1717. Parnell, Gift of Poetry, Poet. Wks. (1758), 35. Helpless Age with hoary frosted head.
4. Of glass, silver, etc.: Having a surface roughened or finely granulated so as to resemble a coating of hoar-frost.
1689. Lond. Gaz., No. 2429/4. The 5th had a Silver Box and pinn’d Case, long Hours of the Dial Plate, and Frosted. Ibid. (1711), No. 4916/4. A … Cloth Suit trim’d with frosted Buttons.
1793. Smeaton, Edystone L., § 211. Being of a dead frosted surface on breaking.
1825. T. Cosnett, Footman’s Directory, 31. The parts [of silver salvers, etc.] which are rough, or what is called frosted.
1852. R. S. Surtees, Sponge’s Sp. Tour (1893), 156. They had not only finished the hot water but a large jug of cold, that graced the centre of the table between two frosted tumblers.
1883. Hardwick’s Photogr. Chem. (ed. Taylor), 123. The Salts of Iron … produce a sparkling precipitate, resembling what is termed frosted silver.
1889. Times (weekly ed.), 20 Dec., 7/4. This office had frosted glass windows.
5. Made to resemble rough ice: a. Arch. Resembling a cluster of icicles or ice formed by irregular drops of water.
1790. W. Wrighte, Grotesque Archit., 7. The arcades to be ice or frosted work.
1859. Gwilt, Archit., Gloss., Frosted, a species of rustic-work, imitative of ice formed by irregular drops of water.
1868. G. Stephens, Runic Monuments, II. 507. The single lines slightly roped or twisted or frosted, or whatever we may call it.
b. Frosted glass: a kind of Venetian glass (see quot.).
1849. A. Pellatt, Curios. Glass-making, 116. Frosted glass … has irregularly veined, marble-like projecting dislocations, with intervening fissures. Ibid., 139. Fig. 2 Ancient Venetian frosted vase…. The satyr heads have been impressed … after the vase was frosted. The frosting manipulation and the Vitro di Trino are explained at pages 113 and 114.
