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1. The withdrawal of heat to change something from a liquid to a solid
   - freeze

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

Derived forms: freezings

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

Antonym: boil

Encyclopedia: Freezing