1. The withdrawal of heat to change something from a liquid to a solid
   "The freezing of water occurs at 0 degrees Celsius";
   - freeze

1. Change to ice
   "The water in the bowl froze"
    
2. Cause to change to ice or become very cold
   "Freeze the leftover food"
    
3. (physics) change from a liquid to a solid when cold
   "Water freezes at 32 degrees Fahrenheit"
    
4. Be cold
   "I could freeze to death in this office when the air conditioning is turned on"
    
5. Be very cold, below the freezing point
   "It is freezing in Kalamazoo"
    
6. Stop moving or become immobilized
   "When he saw the police car he froze";
   - stop dead
    
7. Stop a process, activity or a habit
   "freeze the aid to the war-torn country";
   - suspend
    
8. Prohibit the conversion or use of (assets)
   "Freeze the assets of this hostile government";
   - block, immobilize, immobilise [Brit]
    
9. Suddenly behave coldly and formally
   "She froze when she saw her ex-husband"
    
10. Anesthetize by cold
    "The dentist froze the patient's gum before the procedure"

Derived forms: freezings

Type of: ache, acquit, act, alter, anaesthetise [Brit], anaesthetize [Brit, Cdn], anesthetize [N. Amer], bear, behave, break, carry, change, change state, chilling, comport, conduct, cooling, deport, do, hurt, interrupt, keep back, modify, phase change, phase transition, physical change, put out, put under, solidify, stand still, state change, suffer, temperature reduction, turn, vary, withhold

Antonym: boil, free

Encyclopedia: Freezing