The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Freeze \Freeze\, n.
   The act of congealing, or the state of being congealed.
   [Colloq.]
   [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Freeze \Freeze\, v. t.
   1. To congeal; to harden into ice; to convert from a fluid to
      a solid form by cold, or abstraction of heat.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. To cause loss of animation or life in, from lack of heat;
      to give the sensation of cold to; to chill.
      [1913 Webster]

            A faint, cold fear runs through my veins,
            That almost freezes up the heat of life. --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

   To freeze out, to drive out or exclude by cold or by cold
      treatment; to force to withdraw; as, to be frozen out of
      one's room in winter; to freeze out a competitor.
      [Colloq.]

            A railroad which had a London connection must not be
            allowed to freeze out one that had no such
            connection.                           --A. T.
                                                  Hadley.

            It is sometimes a long time before a player who is
            frozen out can get into a game again. --R. F.
                                                  Foster.
      [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Freeze \Freeze\ (fr[=e]z), n. (Arch.)
   A frieze. [Obs.]
   [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Freeze \Freeze\, v. i. [imp. Froze (fr[=o]z); p. p. Frozen
   (fr[=o]"z'n); p. pr. & vb. n. Freezing.] [OE. fresen,
   freosen, AS. fre['o]san; akin to D. vriezen, OHG. iosan, G.
   frieren, Icel. frjsa, Sw. frysa, Dan. fryse, Goth. frius
   cold, frost, and prob. to L. prurire to itch, E. prurient,
   cf. L. prna a burning coal, pruina hoarfrost, Skr. prushv[=a]
   ice, prush to spirt. ? 18. Cf. Frost.]
   1. To become congealed by cold; to be changed from a liquid
      to a solid state by the abstraction of heat; to be
      hardened into ice or a like solid body.
      [1913 Webster]

   Note: Water freezes at 32[deg] above zero by Fahrenheit's
         thermometer; mercury freezes at 40[deg] below zero.
         [1913 Webster]

   2. To become chilled with cold, or as with cold; to suffer
      loss of animation or life by lack of heat; as, the blood
      freezes in the veins.
      [1913 Webster]

   To freeze up (Fig.), to become formal and cold in demeanor.
      [Colloq.]
      [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

freeze
    n 1: the withdrawal of heat to change something from a liquid to
         a solid [syn: freeze, freezing]
    2: weather cold enough to cause freezing [syn: freeze,
       frost]
    3: an interruption or temporary suspension of progress or
       movement; "a halt in the arms race"; "a nuclear freeze" [syn:
       freeze, halt]
    4: fixing (of prices or wages etc) at a particular level; "a
       freeze on hiring"
    v 1: stop moving or become immobilized; "When he saw the police
         car he froze" [syn: freeze, stop dead]
    2: change to ice; "The water in the bowl froze" [ant: boil]
    3: be cold; "I could freeze to death in this office when the air
       conditioning is turned on"
    4: cause to freeze; "Freeze the leftover food"
    5: stop a process or a habit by imposing a freeze on it;
       "Suspend the aid to the war-torn country" [syn: freeze,
       suspend]
    6: be very cold, below the freezing point; "It is freezing in
       Kalamazoo"
    7: change from a liquid to a solid when cold; "Water freezes at
       32 degrees Fahrenheit" [syn: freeze, freeze out, freeze
       down]
    8: prohibit the conversion or use of (assets); "Blocked funds";
       "Freeze the assets of this hostile government" [syn:
       freeze, block, immobilize, immobilise] [ant: free,
       release, unblock, unfreeze]
    9: anesthetize by cold
    10: suddenly behave coldly and formally; "She froze when she saw
        her ex-husband"

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

216 Moby Thesaurus words for "freeze":
   KO, abide, anesthetize, anhydrate, appall, arrest, awe, balance,
   ballast, ban, be cold, be still, bedaze, benumb, besot, bite,
   bitter weather, blast, blast-freeze, bleak weather, blight, block,
   blunt, brake, brine, bring to, bring up short, change color,
   chatter, check, checkmate, chill, chloroform, coast, cold snap,
   cold wave, cold weather, coldcock, congeal, corn, counterbalance,
   cure, cut, cut short, dam, deaden, deadlock, debar, dehydrate,
   depth of winter, desensitize, desiccate, didder, dither, dope,
   draw rein, drive away, drive out, drug, dry, dry-cure, dry-salt,
   dull, eject, embalm, eternalize, eternize, etherize, evaporate,
   exclude, expel, firm, firm up, fix, force out, freeze out,
   freeze solid, freeze to death, freeze-dry, freezing weather, frost,
   frostbite, fume, funk, glaciate, glacify, go through, grow cold,
   grow pale, halt, hard winter, harden, have a chill,
   have goose pimples, hold, horrify, horripilate, ice, ice over,
   ice up, immobilization, immobilize, immortalize, irradiate, jerk,
   kayo, keep, keep alive, keep fresh, keep quiet, kipper, knock out,
   knock senseless, knock stiff, knock unconscious, lay out,
   lie still, lose courage, lose heat, marinade, marinate, mark time,
   monumentalize, mummify, nail down, narcotize, nip, not breathe,
   not stir, numb, obtund, ostracize, pale, palsy, paralyze, peg,
   penetrate, perennialize, perish with cold, perpetuate, petrify,
   pickle, pierce, pin, pin down, preservatize, preserve,
   preserve from oblivion, pull up, put paid to, put to sleep, quake,
   quick-freeze, quiver, raw weather, refreeze, refrigerate, regelate,
   reject, remain, remain motionless, repose, rest, retain, salt,
   scare stiff, scare to death, season, set, shake, shiver, shock,
   shudder, smoke, smoke-cure, snap, solidify, stabilitate, stabilize,
   stalemate, stall, stand, stand fast, stand firm, stand still, stay,
   stay put, steady, stem, stem the tide, stick, stick fast, stiffen,
   stop, stop cold, stop dead, stop short, strike dumb,
   strike terror into, stuff, stun, stupefy, subzero weather,
   take alarm, take fright, tarry, terrify, transfix, tread water,
   tremble, turn color, turn pale, winter, wintry weather,
   wintry wind, zero weather



The Jargon File (version 4.4.7, 29 Dec 2003):

freeze
 v.

    To lock an evolving software distribution or document against changes so it
    can be released with some hope of stability. Carries the strong implication
    that the item in question will ?unfreeze? at some future date. ?OK, fix
    that bug and we'll freeze for release.? There are more specific
    constructions on this term. A feature freeze, for example, locks out
    modifications intended to introduce new features but still allows bugfixes
    and completion of existing features; a code freeze connotes no more changes
    at all. At Sun Microsystems and elsewhere, one may also hear references to
    code slush ? that is, an almost-but-not-quite frozen state.


The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (30 December 2018):

freeze

   To lock an evolving software distribution or document against
   changes so it can be released with some hope of stability.
   Carries the strong implication that the item in question will
   "unfreeze" at some future date.

   There are more specific constructions on this term.  A
   "feature freeze", for example, locks out modifications
   intended to introduce new features but still allows bugfixes
   and completion of existing features; a "code freeze" connotes
   no more changes at all.  At Sun Microsystems and elsewhere,
   one may also hear references to "code slush" - that is, an
   almost-but-not-quite frozen state.

   [Jargon File]