From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishthawthaw1 /θɔː $ θɒː/ verb 1 [intransitive, transitive] (also thaw out)HEMDN if ice or snow thaws, or if the sun thaws it, it turns into water OPP freeze The lake thawed in March.2 → it thaws3 [intransitive, transitive] (also thaw out)DFC to let frozen food become warmer until it is ready to cook OPP freeze Thaw frozen meat in its packet and then cook as soon as possible.4 [intransitive]FRIENDLY to become friendlier and less formal After a few glasses of wine Robert began to thaw a little. → thaw out→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
thaw• I suggest wiring them up and trailing them overboard to thaw.• It made her thaw a fraction towards him, in spite of herself.• The snow had started to thaw, and there was a faint scent of spring in the air.• As the Cold War thawed, defense budgets shrank.• The lake is frozen all winter, but it usually thaws in March.• He rubbed one in his hands to thaw it for me and barked at Nina, the black-haired girl.• Put the chicken in the microwave to thaw it out.• When the lakes start to thaw, it's dangerous to go skating.• That night it freezes hard and next morning after a brief breakfast we thaw out the boat and set off again.thawthaw2 noun 1 [singular]HEMDN a period of warm weather during which snow and ice melt The thaw begins in March.2 [countable]PG an improvement in relations between two countries, after a period of unfriendlinessExamples from the Corpus
thaw• Brief thaws came often, but Provincetown seemed, in general, arctic and bereft.• Rocks splintered by centuries of cyclic thaws crumbled under my boots.• Perhaps it was to exploit this slight sign of thaw that Eisenhower immediately afterwards invited Khrushchev to the United States.• Freezing at night, baking during the day, ice storms after spring thaw, all create a rugged habitat.• the spring thaw• Yet the outburst of modernism which occurred in the thaw years, did not spring from a total void.• In many places the thaw was complete, and he trudged through mud.• For a while, until the thaw or rain, these muddy tracks will be fossilised and time will stand still.• the thaw in East-West tensionsOrigin thaw1 Old English thawian 