hoarfrosty

English

Alternative forms

• hoar-frosty

Etymology

From hoarfrost +‎ -y.

Adjective

hoarfrosty (comparative more hoarfrosty, superlative most hoarfrosty)

1. Covered with hoar frost.
   • 1864, Thomas Carlyle, “Peace of Dresden: Friedrich Does March Home”, in History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Called Frederick the Great, volume IV, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, book XV, page 219:

     […] “the sky all on fire over there,” as the hoarfrosty evening fell.

   • 1878 February 2, John Ruskin, edited by Helen Gill Viljoen, The Brantwood Diary of John Ruskin, Together with Selected Related Letters and Sketches of Persons Mentioned, New Haven, Conn., London: Yale University Press, published 1971, →ISBN, page 87:

     Down all right, after waking at ½ past 4, and sleeping again through a long St Gothard dream—mixed of sugary ice—where I was a little girl frightened at a sorcerer for a while, and running away along a hoarfrosty road, […]

   • 2001, Poul Anderson, Mother of Kings, New York, N.Y.: Tor Books, →ISBN, page 312:

     When her headcloth came off, the coils of hair shone night-black, with hoarfrosty glints of silver.

Synonyms

• hoarfrosted