freeze up

Verb

freeze up (third-person singular simple present freezes up, present participle freezing up, simple past froze up, past participle frozen up)

1. To be adversely affected by ice, and not function.
   • But these precautions lost some of their merit when the L.T. trains themselves became frozen up at depots overnight.1962 March, “Lessons of the Freeze-up”, in Modern Railways, page 146
2. (ambitransitive) (of machines and software) To come or bring to a sudden halt, stop working (functioning).
   • Since the last update, the program freezes up after a few minutes of use.
3. (ambitransitive) (of people and other animals) To stop or be stopped due to attentiveness, fear, surprise, etc.
   • Despite all of the rehearsals, as soon as I got on stage I froze up.
4. (intransitive) To become cold and formal in demeanour.