frost smoke

Webster's Dictionary (GCIDE)

1.The act of freezing; -- applied chiefly to the congelation of water; congelation of fluids. [1913 Webster]

2.The state or temperature of the air which occasions congelation, or the freezing of water; severe cold or freezing weather. [1913 Webster]

The third bay comes a frost, a killing frost.— Shak.[1913 Webster]

3.Frozen dew; -- called also hoarfrost or white frost. [1913 Webster]

He scattereth the hoarfrost like ashes.— Ps. cxlvii. 16.[1913 Webster]

4.Coldness or insensibility; severity or rigidity of character. [R.] [1913 Webster]

It was of those moments of intense feeling when the frost of the Scottish people melts like a snow wreath.— Sir W. Scott.[1913 Webster]

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 cryophorus.

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 keep him from slipping.

Frost smoke, an appearance resembling smoke, caused by congelation of vapor in the atmosphere in time of severe cold. [1913 Webster]

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. [1913 Webster]