Frost
Webster's Dictionary [1]
(1): ( v. i.) The act of freezing; - applied chiefly to the congelation of water; congelation of fluids.
(2): ( v. i.) The state or temperature of the air which occasions congelation, or the freezing of water; severe cold or freezing weather.
(3): ( v. i.) Frozen dew; - called also hoarfrost or white frost.
(4): ( v. t.) To cover with hoarfrost; to produce a surface resembling frost upon, as upon cake, metals, or glass.
(5): ( v. i.) Coldness or insensibility; severity or rigidity of character.
(6): ( v. t.) To injure by frost; to freeze, as plants.
(7): ( v. t.) To roughen or sharpen, as the nail heads or calks of horseshoes, so as to fit them for frosty weather.
Easton's Bible Dictionary [2]
Job 37:10 Genesis 31:40 Jeremiah 36:30 Job 6:16,38:29 Ezekiel 1:22
"Hoar frost" (Heb. kephor, so called from its covering the ground) is mentioned in Exodus 16:14; Job 38:29; Psalm 147:16 .
In Psalm 78:47 the word rendered "frost" (RSV marg., "great hail-stones"), Hanamal , occurs only there. It is rendered by Gesenius, the Hebrew lexicographer, "ant," and so also by others, but the usual interpretation derived from the ancient versions may be maintained.
King James Dictionary [3]
Frost n.
1. A fluid congealed by cold into ice or crystals as hoar-frost, which is dew or vapor congealed.
He scattereth the hoar-frost like ashes. Psalms 147 .
2. The act of freezing congelation of fluids.
The third day comes a frost, a killing frost.
3. In physiology, that state or temperature of the air which occasions freezing or the coagelation of water. 4. The appearance of plants sparkling with icy crystals.
FROST,
1. In cookery, to cover or sprinkle with a composition of sugar, resembling hoar-frost as, to frost cake. 2. To cover with any thing resembling hoarfrost.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia [4]
frost ( כּפר , kephōr , "hoar-frost," Exodus 16:14; Job 38:29; חנמל , ḥănāmāl , perhaps "the aphis ," Psalm 78:47; קרח , ḳerāḥ , "cold," Genesis 31:40; Job 37:10 the King James Version; Jeremiah 36:30 ):
1. Formation
A temperature of freezing or lower is called frost. Dew forms when the temperature is decreased; and if below freezing, the dew takes the form of a white film or covering over rocks and leaves. This white covering is called hoar-frost. Like dew it is the result of condensation of the moisture of the air on objects which radiate their heat quickly. In order that condensation may take place the atmosphere must be saturated. Frost may be expected on clear, still nights when the radiation is sufficient to reduce the temperature below the freezing-point.
In Syria and Palestine frost is a very rare occurrence at sea-level; but on the hills and elevated plains it is usual in winter, beginning with November, and on the highest elevations throughout the year. Late spring frosts in March or early April do great damage to fruit.
2. In Syria and Palestine
In clear weather there is often a great variation in the temperature of the day and the night, especially on the inland plains, so that literally, as Jacob said to Laban, "In the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night" ( Genesis 31:40 ); "In the day to the heat, and in the night to the frost" ( Jeremiah 36:30; compare Jeremiah 22:19 ), a passage which suggests that Jehoiakim's corpse was left unburied.
3. In Egypt
The meaning of ḥănāmāl , translated "frost" in Psalm 78:47 (see above), "He destroyed ... their sycomore-trees with frost" (m "great hail stones"), is uncertain. "Frost is unknown in Egypt, and Gesenius suggests 'ants,' comparing it with Arabic namal " (Temple, BD , s.v.).
4. Figurative Uses
The manna in the wilderness is compared to hoarfrost. "A small round thing, small as the hoarfrost" ( Exodus 16:14 ). Manna is occasionally found in Syria now as a flaky, gelatinous substance formed on bushes and rocks. The elements of Nature are indications of God's power, and are referred to as signs of His might: "By the breath of God frost is given" ( Job 37:10 the King James Version). "The hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered it?" ( Job 38:29 ); "He destroyed their vines with hail, and their sycamore-trees with frost" ( Psalm 78:47 ); "He scattereth the hoar-frost like ashes" ( Psalm 147:16 ).
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature [5]
(prop. כְּפוֹר , Kephor, so called from Covering the ground, "hoar-frost," Exodus 16:14; Job 38:29; Psalms 147:16; also קֶרִח , Ke'Rach, from its smoothness, ice, as rendered Job 6:16; Job 38:29; "frost," Job 37:10; hence cold, "frost," Genesis 31:40; Jeremiah 36:30; and "Crystal," from its resemblance to ice, Ezekiel 1:22), frozen dew. It appears in a still night, when there is no storm or tempest, and descends upon the earth as silently as if it were produced by mere breathing ( Job 37:10). Throughout western Asia, very severe and frosty nights are often succeeded by days warmer than most western summers afford (Genesis 21:40; see Jeremiah 36:30). Dr. Robinson says (Researches, 2:97), in Jerusalem "the ground never freezes; but Mr. Whiting had seen the pool back of his house (Hezekiah's) covered with thin ice for one or two days." Dr. Barclay states (City Of The Great King, page 50) that "frost at the present day is entirely unknown in the lower portion of the valley of the Jordan [the Ghor]; but slight frosts are sometimes felt on the sea-coast, and near Lebanon." (See Palestine).
The word חֲנָמָל , Chanamal, found only in Psalms 78:47, where (in accordance with the Sept. Vulg., Chald., Arabic, Syr., and most interpreters) it is rendered "frost," signifies (according to Michaelis) a species of Ant, as destructive to trees (?) as the hail (Aben-Ezra) in the parallel member. (See Gesenius, Thes. Heb. page 499; Bochart, Hieroz. 3:255, edit. Lips.) Perhaps, if an animal at all be meant, it may be a designation of the caterpillar (so some of the Rabbins), an insect nowhere else properly distinctly referred to in the Scriptures, but peculiarly destructive to the foliage of trees. (See Locust).
