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.

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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

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Other Word Forms

• nonfrosting adjective

Etymology

Origin of frosting

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

Example Sentences

Susan Prunty’s bakery in Medford, Ore., sold about 25 Christmas cookie decorating kits through the middle of last December, complete with a dozen freshly baked sugar cookies, buttercream frosting, and sprinkles.

From Barron's

Mascarpone frosting, lightly scented with cardamom and lemon, crowns the whole, airy yet substantial, a gentle counterpoint to the cake’s density.

From Salon

“If you’re really going into baking all the time with soy sauce, and you’re going to use it for your caramels and your frostings, then, yeah, invest in a good one.”

From Salon

Spoon about a teaspoon of frosting over each cherry and cover it completely.

From Salon

"You repurpose existing skills -- using an oven, measuring ingredients, kneading dough -- and combine them with new ones, like whipping batter and making frosting, to create something entirely different."

From Science Daily

Related Words

• glaze