frowst

English

WOTD – 21 December 2009

Alternative forms

• froust

Etymology

Back-formation from frowsty.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /fɹaʊst/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -aʊst

Noun

frowst (plural frowsts)

1. Stuffiness; stifling warmth in a room.
   • 1916, John Buchan, Greenmantle:

     I was pretty bad myself, but managed to move about all the time, for the frowst in my cabin would have sickened a hippo.

Synonyms

• (stuffiness; stifling warmth): stuffiness
• fustiness

Translations

stuffiness; stifling warmth in a room

• Bulgarian: задух (bg) m (zaduh), спарен въздух m (sparen vǎzduh)
• French: touffeur (fr), mofette (fr)
• Macedonian: за́дув m (záduv)
• Polish: zaduch (pl) m, stęchlizna (pl) f
• Russian: духота́ (ru) f (duxotá), спёртость f (spjórtostʹ)
• Spanish: tufo (es), tufarada (es), mofeta (es)

Verb

frowst (third-person singular simple present frowsts, present participle frowsting, simple past and past participle frowsted)

1. (intransitive) To enjoy being in a warm, close, stuffy place.
   • 1902, Rudyard Kipling, “(please specify the story)”, in Just So Stories: For Little Children, New York, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, →OCLC:

     The cure for this ill is not to sit still, / Or frowst with a book by the fire;

Translations

to enjoy a warm, stuffy room

• Bulgarian: стоя на затворено (stoja na zatvoreno)
• French: se calfeutrer (fr), se cloîtrer (fr), s’enfermer (fr)
• Italian: turarsi
• Polish: schować się (w bezpiecznym, ciepłym miejscu)
• Spanish: encerrarse (es), enclaustrarse (es), recluirse (es)