Advertisement

thaw (v.)

Old English þawian (transitive), from Proto-Germanic *thawon- (source also of Old Norse þeyja, Middle Low German doien, Dutch dooien, Old High German douwen, German tauen "to thaw"), from PIE root *ta- "to melt, dissolve" (source also of Sanskrit toyam "water," Ossetic thayun "to thaw," Welsh tawadd "molten," Doric Greek takein "to melt, waste, be consumed," Old Irish tam "pestilence," Latin tabes "a melting, wasting away, putrefaction," Old Church Slavonic tajati "to melt"). Intransitive sense from early 14c. Related: Thawed; thawing.

thaw (n.)

"the melting of ice or snow," also "spell of weather causing this," c. 1400, from thaw (v.). Figurative sense is from 1590s; specifically "relaxation of political harshness or hostility" from 1950, an image from the "Cold War."

Others are reading

Advertisement
Definitions of thaw from WordNet
1
thaw (n.)
the process whereby heat changes something from a solid to a liquid;
the thawing of a frozen turkey takes several hours
Synonyms: melt / thawing / melting
thaw (n.)
warm weather following a freeze; snow and ice melt;
they welcomed the spring thaw
Synonyms: thawing / warming
thaw (n.)
a relaxation or slackening of tensions or reserve; becoming less hostile;
the thaw between the United States and Russia has led to increased cooperation in world affairs
2
thaw (v.)
become or cause to become soft or liquid;
the ice thawed
Synonyms: dissolve / unfreeze / unthaw / dethaw / melt
From wordnet.princeton.edu