Meanings
- A personification of frosty weather or winter.
Chestnuts roasting on an open fire / Jack Frost nipping at your nose / Yuletide carols being sung by a choir / And folks dressed up like Eskimos
1945, “The Christmas Song: Merry Christmas to You: S.A.T.B. with Incidental Soprano Solos and Piano Accompaniment”, Mel Tormé, Bob Wells (lyrics), Mel Tormé (music), New York, N.Y.: E. H. Morris, published 1946, →OCLC5 more examples
This time of Year being cold and frosty generally speaking, or when Jack Frost commonly takes us by the Nose, the Diversions are always within Doors, either in Exercise or by the Fire-side.
1740, “Of Mirth and Jollity, Christmas Gambols, Eating, Drinking, Kissing, and Other Diversions of the Holydays”, in Round about Our Coal-fire, or Christmas Entertainments …, London: […] J. Roberts […], →OCLC; republished as Christmas Entertainments: […], London: Field & Tuer, Yᵉ Leadenhall Presse; Simpkin, Marshall & Co.; Hamilton, Adams & Co., 1883, →OCLC, page 6Well, and the inside is all lined with skins, warm enough; and there's a fire in the middle; [...] Jack frost may whistle out doors if he pleases, but he can hardly get his nose in here.
1818, Isaac Taylor, “Lapland. 10. Lapland Witch Selling a Wind.”, in Scenes in Europe, for the Amusement and Instruction of Little Tarry-at-home Travellers, London: […] J. Harris, […], →OCLC, page 11December's severely cold nights made dreadful havoc with the soldiers[’] toes on the out posts, where for six long hours without fire or aught to shield from Jack Frost’s intrusion, they trod their lonely beat, dreaming of home and friends far away.
1870, George Wise, “Falls Church, Upton’s and Munson’s Hills”, in History of the Seventeenth Virginia Infantry, C.S.A., Baltimore, Md.: Kelly, Piet & Company, →OCLC, page 47Autumn has given way to winter once more, and happily the late and heavy rains fattened the ripening crops now reaping; and left everywhere through this district a thick growth of grass, for winter grazing; long enough, generally, to shield from Jack Frost, by its ample tops and seed heads, a bite of succulent stalk above the roots.
1901 June 1, Maynard Matthews, “District Reports”, in The Agricultural Journal and Mining Record, volume IV, number 7, Pietermaritzburg, Natal Province: Times Printing and Publishing Company, published 7 June 1901, →OCLC, pages 196–197Ma said that Jack Frost came in the night and made the pictures, while everyone was asleep. Laura thought that Jack Frost was a little man all snowy white, wearing a glittering white pointed cap and soft white kneeboots made of deerskin.
1932, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Little House in the Big Woods, New York, N.Y.: Harper, published 2016, →ISBNSynonyms: Old Man Winter
Synonyms & antonyms
proper nounA personification of frosty weather or winter.
Origin
From Jack (placeholder or conventional name for any man) + frost.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Chinese Mandarin 冰霜傑克 /冰霜杰克
- 冰霜傑克 /冰霜杰克 (Bīngshuāng Jiékè)personification of winter
Japanese ジャックフロスト
- ジャックフロスト (jakkufurosuto)personification of winter
Korean 잭 프로스트
- 잭 프로스트 (jaek peuroseuteu)personification of winter
Norwegian Bokmål Kong Vinter
- Kong Vinterpersonification of winter
Swedish Kung Frost, Kung Bore
- Kung Frostpersonification of winter
- Kung Borepersonification of winter
- Kung Vinterpersonification of winter
Welsh Jac y Rhew, Siôn Barrug
- Jac y Rhewpersonification of winter
- Siôn Barrugpersonification of winter
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with Jack Frost
All rhymes →Cite this entry
Jack Frost. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Jack%20Frost
“Jack Frost.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Jack%20Frost. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Jack Frost,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Jack%20Frost.
Source: Jack Frost on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.