frost heave

American

noun

Geology.

an uplift in soil caused by the freezing of internal moisture.

frost heave British

noun

Also called: frost heaving. the upthrust and cracking of a ground surface through the freezing and expansion of water underneath

"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

Etymology

Origin of frost heave

First recorded in 1945–50

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.

See Examples For:

frost heave

For instance, if you live in a cold climate, you might find that the pier is required to extend below the frost line of the house so that a frost heave doesn't occur.

From US News ● Jun. 30, 2014

For those who don't speak deck, a pier is a component that supports a deck, and a frost heave happens when ice causes your soil to swell during freezing conditions.

From US News ● Jun. 30, 2014

Shadows flickered on the top of a frost heave.

From "Julie of the Wolves" by Jean Craighead George

He has a summer job, with the Works Department, filling in potholes in the roads, tarring over the cracks made by frost heave; he does have a faint tarry smell about him.

From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood

Picking up her red markers, she crawled around her frost heave and frantically gathered the leafy plants that the caribou eat.

From "Julie of the Wolves" by Jean Craighead George

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