defrost

«defrost» in Mova's school dictionary: To let frozen food become unfrozen before cooking or… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

verb (defrost, defrosts, defrosted, defrosting)

meaning for a pupil

1) To let frozen food become unfrozen before cooking or eating: «Defrost the chicken in the fridge». tree →

2) To remove ice from a freezer, fridge or car windscreen: «We need to defrost the freezer». tree →

3) To become unfrozen: «The peas will defrost in an hour». tree →

sense in the lessons

In cooking and food-safety lessons, frozen meat should be defrosted in the fridge or microwave, not left on the counter, and not refrozen once thawed, to stop harmful bacteria growing. In winter, drivers defrost their windscreens before driving. In science, defrosting shows melting: ice changing from solid to liquid as it warms. Phrases: «defrost in the fridge», «defrost setting», «defrost the windscreen».

examples

• Mum took the fish out of the freezer to defrost. tree →
• Always defrost meat in the fridge, not on the worktop. tree →
• Dad turned the car heater on to defrost the windscreen. tree →
• We had to defrost the old freezer because it was full of ice. tree →
• Use the defrost setting on the microwave. tree →
• Leave the bread to defrost for an hour. tree →

note

Similar: thaw. US also «unthaw» (informal and illogical, but used). In science, defrosting is melting, a reversible change. Food safety rule: cook defrosted meat soon and do not refreeze it raw.

In the corpora

• A freezer stops germs growing almost completely but does not kill most of them, so defrosted meat must still be cooked properly.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «defrost» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.