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frosting

American  
[fraw-sting, fros-ting] / ˈfrɔ stɪŋ, ˈfrɒs tɪŋ /

noun

  1. a sweet mixture, cooked or uncooked, for coating or filling cakes, cookies, and the like; icing.

  2. a dull or lusterless finish, as on metal or glass.

  3. a process of highlighting the hair by bleaching selected strands.

  4. a material used for decorative work, as signs, displays, etc., made from coarse flakes of powdered glass.

idioms

  1. the frosting on the cake, something added to make a thing better or more desirable. Also icing on the cake.

frosting British  
/ ˈfrɒstɪŋ /

noun

  1. a soft icing based on sugar and egg whites

  2. Also called: icing.  a sugar preparation, variously flavoured and coloured, for coating and decorating cakes, biscuits, etc

  3. a rough or matt finish on glass, silver, etc

  4. slang the practice of stealing a car while the owner has left it idling to defrost the windows and heat the engine

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Etymology

Origin of frosting

First recorded in 1610–20; frost + -ing 1

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Duncan Hines’ Comstock County Cherry pie filling and its Creamy Strawberries n’ Cream Frosting still contain artificial colors, including Red 40 and Yellow 5, News Nation reported.

From Salon • Jul. 23, 2025

To make Three Minute Fudge Frosting: In a small saucepan, add brown or coconut sugar, chocolate and 1/4 cup of water and bring to a low boil for three minutes.

From Salon • Feb. 29, 2024

Monday lives in Vero Beach, Fla., the Dodgers’ old spring home, where his wife Barbaralee owns a bakery called Frosting and a coffee shop and wine bar called Grind + Grape.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 20, 2023

Ice cream or whipped cream: shortening, corn syrup and frosting Facebook Twitter Pinterest Frosting plus icing sugar makes an impressive-looking ice cream.

From The Guardian • Jan. 4, 2016

“Mr. Lemoncello insists that everybody be given balloons and cake. Cake has no place in a library. Frosting is sticky. Sticky fingers damage books.”

From "Mr. Lemoncello's Library Olympics" by Chris Grabenstein

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.