thawn

From thaw +‎ -n.

thawn

1. (rare, chiefly poetic or nonstandard) past participle of thaw
   • 1646, H[enry] More, “Cupids Conflict. Mela. Cleanthes.”, in Democritus Platonissans, or, An Essay upon the Infinity of Worlds Out of Platonick Principles. Hereunto Is Annexed Cupids Conflict Together with The Philosophers Devotion: […], Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] Roger Daniel, Printer to the Universitie, →OCLC, page 5:

     Had I once lanc’d thy froward flinty heart / And cruddled bloud had thawn with living fire / And prickt thy drouſie ſprite with gentle ſmart / How wouldſt thou wake to kindly ſweet deſire, / Thy ſoul fill’d up with overflowing pleaſures / Would dew thy lips with hony-dropping meaſures.

   • a. 1683, Thomas Brown[e], “The London and Lacedemonian Oracles”, in The Third Volume of the Works of M^r. Thomas Brown, Containing, Amusements Serious & Comical, Calculated for the Meridian of London. […], London: […] S[amuel] B[riscoe] and Sold by B. Bragg, […], published 1708, →OCLC, page 138:

     There is a Plant that grows on Mount Libanus in Syria, which the Arabian calls the Golden Herb; it begins to appear in the Month of May, after the Snow is thawn; […]

   • 1906, John Gurdon, “Callisto”, in Dramatic Lyrics, London: Elkin Mathews, […], →OCLC, page 66:

     Footprint in the dews of dawn, / Dustwhirl on a desert plain, / Shadow of a flickering awn / Of wheat that waits the harvest wain, / These shall last if joy remain, / Nymph, when all thy snows have thawn.

   • 1924, O[le] T[obias] Grønlie, “The Outer Basin”, in Contributions to the Quaternary Geology of Novaya Zemlya (Report of the Scientific Results of the Norwegian Expedition to Novaya Zemlya 1921; 21), Kristiania: A[nton] W[ilhelm] Brøgger Boktrykkeri ^A⁄_S, →OCLC, chapter 1 (Observations during the Expedition), section 4 (Mashigin Fjord), page 49:

     It is noteworthy that despite of the flow of the soil all shore-lines engraved in loose material are apparently not the least destructed. From this fact it must be inferred that the earth-flow in Novaya Zemlya is a surface phenomenon only active during the thaw in the spring, when the surface layers have thawn but to a minute depth.

   • 1931, Selman A[braham] Walksman, “Methods of Determining the Abundance of Different Groups of Microorganisms Found in the Soil. Soil Bacteria”, in Principles of Soil Microbiology, 2nd edition, London: Baillière, Tindall & Cox […], →OCLC, part A (The Soil Population. Occurrence and Abundance of Microorganisms in the Soil), page 20:

     An increase can be expected in soils, in which the activities of microorganisms have been kept in check, as in the case of dry soils moistened, soils treated with gaseous disinfectants, samples from low depths, frozen soils after they have thawn off.

   • 2004 February 7, Alf Christophersen, “Lobster”, in rec.food.historic‎^[1] (Usenet), archived from the original on 12 February 2026:

     reminds me about an episode back in 1971 when I visited my 2. cousin at the farm where my grandmothers was born (they still have a quite big part of the Kjerra-fishery in Numedalslågen, Norway) where some guests was expected to arrive the day before I came there and they had thawn a 18 kg piece of cured salmon for that meeting (expecting about 80 people).

   • 2009 April 15, Al_leon, “Spring is coming!”, in Great photos, Lookarounds, & Sightseer places!‎^[2] (Google Groups), archived from the original on 12 February 2026:

     The spring has come. Roads have thawn. Russia. Arkhangelsk.

   • 2015 February 25, Brenden Hurley, “Tuesday Night Goon O Drome”, in CX GOONSQUAD‎^[3] (Google Groups), archived from the original on 12 February 2026:

     I hope your hands/feet have thawn!

• “thaw, v.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.