Hoar-FROST. a cold moist vapour, that is drawn up a little way into the air, and in the night falls again on the earth, where it is congealed into icy crystals of various figures. Hoar-frost, therefore, is nothing but dew turned into ice by the coldness of the air.
Melioration of Aromatic Spirits by Frost. Mr Baume observes, that aromatic spirituous waters have less scent when newly distilled than after they have been kept about six months: and he found that the good effects of age was produced in a short time by means of cold; and that, by plunging quart-bottles of the liquor into a mixture of pounded ice and sea-salt, the spirit, after having suffered for six or eight hours the cold hence resulting, proves as grateful as that which hath been kept many years. Simple waters also, after having been frozen, prove far more agreeable than they were before. Geoffroy takes notice of this melioration by frost; Hist. Acad. 1713.
Melioration of Land by Frost. See AGRICULTURE, no 137.