frosted tips

English

Lance Bass, an example of a man with frosted tips

Eurasian wigeon, showing dark feathers with frosted tips

Etymology

From the similarity in appearance to frost.

Noun

frosted tips pl (plural only)

1. A hairstyle in which the hair forms spikes, the tips of which are bleached pale blond, forming a contrast to the color of the rest of the hair.
   • 2014, Turney Hall, An Eagle Soars: One Man's Journey to Baldness, →ISBN:

     Then again, they may then place restrictions on my hair such that I could not get highlights or frosted tips.

   • 2016, Haleigh Lovell, The Slam (A Romance):

     “The dude's got a rainbow Mohawk with frosted tips,” my brother said calmly.

   • 2017, Dennis Maley, Casting Shadows, →ISBN, page 195:

     She just broke up with some total douche bag loser with frosted tips.” “Frosted tips? Like boy-band frosted tips?” “Like George Michael, circa 1988 frosted tips. She showed me his picture on her phone—total loser."

2. White or light coloration at the ends of darker feathers or fur on a bird or mammal.
   • 2008, Charles M. Francis, Priscilla Barrett, A Field Guide to the Mammals of South-East Asia, →ISBN, page 375:

     These are E. olitor, which is similar to E. melanogaster but smaller in size, with dark greyish-brown upperparts with pale frosted tips; and E. miletus, which is similar in size and colour to E. cachinus but with a relatively shorter tail and higher skull profile.

   • 2010, Peter Clement, Finches and Sparrows, →ISBN, page 277:

     Males are generally rich warm or reddish-brown with darker streaking on mantle and back, bright pink rump and underparts, and faint (not prominent) wingbar; long Supercilium to sides of nape is pale pink with pale silvery or frosted tips, with cheeks and ear-coverts similar.

   • 2011, Terence Barrow, More Incredible Hawaii, →ISBN:

     Their gray fur has a reddish tinge with whitish frosted tips, hence the name "hoary."

3. A type of surgical laser lens that has frosted edges in order to diffuse the radiation profile.
   • 1993, Allen M. Putterman, Cosmetic Oculoplastic Surgery, page 319:

     The frosted tips were used for dissection of subcutaneous vascular tissue, as they coagulate blood vessels better than the clear tips.

   • 1997, Renzo Dionigi, Juan R. Madariaga, New Technologies for Liver Resections, page 8:

     By utilizing frosted tips, a broader zone of necrosis is possible with facilitation of resection through fibrotic liver.

   • 2003, Keat Jin Lee, Essential Otolaryngology: Head & Neck Surgery, →ISBN, page 782:

     The frosted tips are for coagulation while the clear tips are for cutting.

4. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see frosted,‎ tip.
   • 1916 May, “Making Over the Lighting System”, in Popular Science, volume 88, number 5, page 795:

     The four small ceiling bulbs in the dining room were chosen of frosted glass; most of the other lamps have frosted tips.

   • 2012, Cynthia C. Chernecky, Barbara J. Berger, Laboratory Tests and Diagnostic Procedures, →ISBN, page 797:

     Obtain a speculum, a wooden Pap-smear stick, normal saline with a 60-mL syringe, a sterile specimen cup, and slides with frosted tips on which to label client information.

   • 2016, K.A., Cold Cognition, →ISBN, page 99:

     As she bounced around the exceptionally small tent, I realized how cold it must have been last night. This was from the white frosted tips on Nikita's black fur. Only half of her body wasn't icily frosted (the half that had obviously been pressed up against my sleeping bag during the night).

   • 2017, Susan Kaye Quinn, Third Daughter:

     The mountains of Jungali were spread below her, their frosted tips transformed into an expanse of snow-covered fields.