frosted tips en · NOUN
Etymology
From the similarity in appearance to frost.
Meanings
-
(plural, plural-only) A hairstyle in which the hair forms spikes, the tips of which are bleached pale blond, forming a contrast to the color of the rest of the hair.
She just broke up with some total douche bag loser with frosted tips.” “Frosted tips? Like boy-band frosted tips?” “Like George Michael, circa 1988 frosted tips. She showed me his picture on her phone—total loser."
2017, Dennis Maley, Casting Shadows, →ISBN, page 195:“The dude's got a rainbow Mohawk with frosted tips,” my brother said calmly.
2016, Haleigh Lovell, The Slam (A Romance):Then again, they may then place restrictions on my hair such that I could not get highlights or frosted tips.
2014, Turney Hall, An Eagle Soars: One Man's Journey to Baldness, →ISBN:
-
(plural, plural-only) White or light coloration at the ends of darker feathers or fur on a bird or mammal.
These are E. olitor, which is similar to E. melanogaster but smaller in size, with dark greyish-brown upperparts with pale frosted tips; and E. miletus, which is similar in size and colour to E. cachinus but with a relatively shorter tail and higher skull profile.
2008, Charles M. Francis, Priscilla Barrett, A Field Guide to the Mammals of South-East Asia, →ISBN, page 375:Their gray fur has a reddish tinge with whitish frosted tips, hence the name "hoary."
2011, Terence Barrow, More Incredible Hawaii, →ISBN:Males are generally rich warm or reddish-brown with darker streaking on mantle and back, bright pink rump and underparts, and faint (not prominent) wingbar; long Supercilium to sides of nape is pale pink with pale silvery or frosted tips, with cheeks and ear-coverts similar.
2010, Peter Clement, Finches and Sparrows, →ISBN, page 277:
-
(plural, plural-only) A type of surgical laser lens that has frosted edges in order to diffuse the radiation profile.
The frosted tips were used for dissection of subcutaneous vascular tissue, as they coagulate blood vessels better than the clear tips.
1993, Allen M. Putterman, Cosmetic Oculoplastic Surgery, page 319:By utilizing frosted tips, a broader zone of necrosis is possible with facilitation of resection through fibrotic liver.
1997, Renzo Dionigi, Juan R. Madariaga, New Technologies for Liver Resections, page 8:The frosted tips are for coagulation while the clear tips are for cutting.
2003, Keat Jin Lee, Essential Otolaryngology: Head & Neck Surgery, →ISBN, page 782:
-
(plural, plural-only) Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see frosted, tip.
Obtain a speculum, a wooden Pap-smear stick, normal saline with a 60-mL syringe, a sterile specimen cup, and slides with frosted tips on which to label client information.
2012, Cynthia C. Chernecky, Barbara J. Berger, Laboratory Tests and Diagnostic Procedures, →ISBN, page 797:As she bounced around the exceptionally small tent, I realized how cold it must have been last night. This was from the white frosted tips on Nikita's black fur. Only half of her body wasn't icily frosted (the half that had obviously been pressed up against my sleeping bag during the night).
2016, K.A., Cold Cognition, →ISBN, page 99:The four small ceiling bulbs in the dining room were chosen of frosted glass; most of the other lamps have frosted tips.
1916 May, “Making Over the Lighting System”, in Popular Science, volume 88, number 5, page 795:The mountains of Jungali were spread below her, their frosted tips transformed into an expanse of snow-covered fields.
2017, Susan Kaye Quinn, Third Daughter: