Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A dry freeze without the protective formation of hoarfrost that results in the internal freezing and death of vegetation.
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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It was afternoon, twilight yet out of doors: starless and moonless twilight; for, though keenly freezing with a dry, black frost, heaven wore a mask of clouds congealed and fast-locked.
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Her mother had announced to her the fact of the black frost, and these were the first words she spoke.
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I am not “PARTICULAR,” as people say, whether it be snow, or black frost, or wind so strong that (as Mr. — says) “you may lean your back against it like a post.”
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On that bleak hill-top the earth was hard with a black frost, and the air made me shiver through every limb.
Wuthering Heights 2002
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More than R120 million in crops and vegetables in his area, covering nearly 900000ha, have been lost because of the drought, black frost and unusually cold weather.
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Weipe agricultural union chairman Frans Nel said drought was wiping out the financial resources of farmers who lost millions of rand in winter production because of black frost and a plague of mice.
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A hard, cold Christmas it was proving to be, that year of 1135, all bitter black frost and grudging snow, thin and sharp as whips before a withering east wind.
A Rare Benedictine Peters, Ellis, 1913- 1988
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During this period, which generally occupies two or three weeks of the month of November, the days are pleasant, and with abundance of sunshine, and the nights present a cold, clear, black frost.
The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 20, No. 559, July 28, 1832 Various
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When the yellow fever broke out in New York, and caused much alarm, nearly forty years ago, the first cases occurred in the vicinity of Trinity Church, and until destroyed by a black frost, it spread gradually in every direction from this common centre, insomuch that the "infected district" was clearly defined and marked out from day to day.
Jack in the Forecastle or, Incidents in the Early Life of Hawser Martingale John Sherburne Sleeper
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After that there were days of chilly sunlight, nights of black frost, and more wind and rain and snow.
The Ranch at the Wolverine B. M. Bower 1905
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