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frosting

[fraw-sting, fros-ting]
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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.
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Origin of frosting

First recorded in 1610–20; frost + -ing1
Related formsnon·frost·ing, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

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British Dictionary definitions for icing on the cake

frosting

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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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

Word Origin and History for icing on the cake

frosting

n.

1610s as an action; 1756 as a substance; meaning "cake icing" is from 1858; verbal noun from frost (v.).

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

Idioms and Phrases with icing on the cake

icing on the cake

Also, frosting on the cake. An additional benefit to something already good. For example, All these letters of congratulation are icing on the cake, or After that beautiful sunrise, the rainbow is just frosting on the cake. This metaphoric expression alludes to the sweet creamy coating used to enhance a cake. [Mid-1900s]

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