thaw

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. v. To change from a frozen solid to a liquid by gradual warming.
2. v. To lose stiffness, numbness, or impermeability by being warmed: left the frozen turkey out until it thawed; thawed out by sitting next to the stove.
3. v. To become warm enough for snow and ice to melt.
4. v. To become less formal, aloof, or reserved.
5. v. To cause to thaw.
6. n. The process of thawing.
7. n. A period of warm weather during which ice and snow melt.
8. n. A relaxation of reserve, restraints, or tensions.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. To pass from a frozen to a liquid or semi-fluid state; melt; dissolve: said of ice or snow; also, to be freed from frost; have the contained frost dissolved by heat: said of anything frozen.
2. To become so warm as to melt ice and snow; rise above a temperature of 32° Fahrenheit: said of the weather, and used impersonally.
3. To be released from any condition, physical or mental, resembling that of freezing; become supple, warm, or genial; be freed from coldness, embarrassment, formality, or reserve; unbend: often with out.
4. To reduce from a frozen to a liquid state, as ice or snow; also, to free from frost, as some frozen substance: often with out.
5. To render less cold, formal, or stiff; free from embarrassment, shyness, or reserve; make genial: often with out.
6. Synonyms Dissolve, Fuse, etc. See melt.
7. n. The melting of ice or snow: also, the melting by heat of any substance congealed by frost.
8. n. Warmth of weather, such as liquefies or melts anything congealed.
9. n. The state of becoming less cold, formal, or reserved.

Wiktionary

1. v. intransitive To melt, dissolve, or become fluid; to soften; — said of that which is frozen; as, the ice thaws. Specifically by gradual warming
2. v. intransitive To become so warm as to melt ice and snow; — said in reference to the weather, and used impersonally.
3. v. intransitive, figuratively To grow gentle or genial.
4. v. transitive To cause frozen things (such as earth, snow, ice) to melt, soften, or dissolve. Specifically by gradual warming.
5. n. The melting of ice, snow, or other congealed matter; the resolution of ice, or the like, into the state of a fluid; liquefaction by heat of anything congealed by frost
6. n. a warmth of weather sufficient to melt that which is congealed. —Dryden.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. v. To melt, dissolve, or become fluid; to soften; -- said of that which is frozen.
2. v. To become so warm as to melt ice and snow; -- said in reference to the weather, and used impersonally.
3. v. To grow gentle or genial. Compare cold{4}, a. and hard{6}, a.
4. v. To cause (frozen things, as earth, snow, ice) to melt, soften, or dissolve.
5. n. The melting of ice, snow, or other congealed matter; the resolution of ice, or the like, into the state of a fluid; liquefaction by heat of anything congealed by frost; also, a warmth of weather sufficient to melt that which is congealed.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a relaxation or slackening of tensions or reserve; becoming less hostile
2. n. the process whereby heat changes something from a solid to a liquid
3. n. warm weather following a freeze; snow and ice melt
4. v. become or cause to become soft or liquid