Also β. 5 thowe, 5– thow (now north. dial. and Sc.). [f. THAW v.: cf. ON. þá thawed ground; also ON. þeyr, ONorw. þøyr, Sw. tö, Da. tø thaw; also Du. dooi thaw.]
1. The melting of ice and snow after a frost; the condition of the weather caused by the rise of temperature above the freezing point.
14[?]. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 586/9. Gelicidium, thawe.
a. 1552. Leland, Itin., V. 68. The Lake of Brecnok ons frosen over, and than in a Thaue breking maketh marvelus Noise.
1568. Grafton, Chron., II. 441. Vpon a sodaine thawe, the floodes agayne encreace.
1634–5. Laud, Diary, Wks. 1853, III. 223. The Thames was frozen over,… A mighty flood at the thaw.
1686. trans. Chardin’s Trav. Persia, 349. It becomes so furious when swell’d by the Thaws of the Snow.
1726–46. Thomson, Winter, 990. The frost resolves into a trickling thaw.
1878. Huxley, Physiogr., 142. By heavy rainfall, or by rapid thaw of snow.
β. 1412–20. Lydg., Chron. Troy, II. 5079. Newe flodis of þe sodeyn þowe Þe grene mede gan to ouerflowe.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 492/1. Thowe, of snowe, or yclys or yce,… degelacio.
1725. Ramsay, Gentle Sheph., I. ii. Thick-blawn wreaths of snaw, or blashy thows.
1786. Burns, Brigs of Ayr, 119. Arous’d by blust’ring winds an spotting thowes; In mony a torrent down his sna-broo rowes.
1876. Whitby Gloss., Thow, thaw.
2. transf. and fig.
1598. Shaks., Merry W., III. v. 119. A man of my Kidney … that am as subiect to heate as butter; a man of continuall dissolution, and thaw.
1684. Bunyan, Pilgr., II. 113. If the Sun of Righteousness will arise upon him, his frozen Heart shall feel a Thaw.
1794. Burns, The Auld Man, ii. But my white pow, nae kindly thowe Shall melt the snaws of age.
1817. Byron, Manfred, II. ii. 202. Now I tremble And feel a strange cold thaw upon my heart.
b. spec. A becoming less cold, formal, or reserved.
1848. Dickens, Dombey, v. Such temporary indications of a partial thaw that had appeared with her, vanished with her.
1873. Browning, Red Cott. Nt.-cap, III. 326. That thaw Of rigid disapproval into dew Of sympathy.
3. attrib. and Comb., as thaw-rain, -time, -wind (cf. G. tauwind); thaw-cloven, -swamped adjs.
a. 1715. Burnet, Own Time, II. an. 1672 (1823), I. 582. In the minute in which they began to march [on the ice], a thaw wind blew very fresh.
1814. Byron, in L. Hunt, Autobiog. (1850), II. 318. I have been snow-bound and thaw-swamped … for nearly a month.
1819. Shelley, Prometh. Unb., II. iii. 34. A howl Of cataracts from their thaw-cloven ravines. Ibid. (1820), Vision of Sea, 36. It splits like the ice when the thaw-breezes blow.
1852. Dickens, Bleak Ho., iii. She gave me one cold parting kiss upon my forehead, like a thaw-drop from the stone porch.
1890. Stevenson, Lett. to H. James, 29 Dec. My theories melt, and … the thaw-waters wash down my writing.
