noun

• 1A mixture of sugar with liquid or butter, typically flavored and colored, and used as a coating for cakes or cookies.

  ‘The carton says: ‘Great for cakes, icings, biscuits, French toast, quiche, batters and coatings for baking or frying!’’

  More example sentences

  • ‘Powdery confectioners' sugar contains a small amount of starch, which is desirable in some products like icings and pastry creams but not desirable in brioche.’
  • ‘Cakes covered with these relatively simple icings are often further decorated with the addition of glacé cherries, angelica, silver dragées, hundreds and thousands, etc.’
  • ‘Now you will make your various frostings and icings, or prepare your melted chocolate for drizzling, or dust with powdered sugar to decorate your cookies as directed.’
  • ‘As trade with the New World increased, cochineal became the standard dye for a wide variety of uses, from the red coats of British soldiers, to the red tints of artists' paints and the coloring of pastry icings.’
  • ‘These icings are a perfect way to top off your organic desserts or turn your black forest cake into a truly eco-friendly treat.’
  • ‘It makes icings, marzipan and nut products, which it supplies to caterers and supermarkets.’
  • ‘Both cake and icing will keep in the fridge for up to three days.’
  • ‘While cake is baking, make the icing by mixing together cream cheese, creme fraiche, butter, vanilla, sugar and walnuts.’
  • ‘Thin with water if icing is too thick to drizzle.’
  • ‘The icing is lifeless and the cake is flat and dry.’
  • ‘One birthday, she had chocolate cake with pink icing, and she and two friends spent the entire afternoon running through the sprinkler.’
  • ‘You would have been confronted with the dull thud of abstract nouns and adjectives sprinkled about like chocolate chips on the chocolate icing of a chocolate cake.’
  • ‘No, it was a normal cake with no icing or any flavour other than vanilla, but it was green, as if he was celebrating Eid, or St. Patrick's Day.’
  • ‘When the door shut behind him, I dipped my finger into the icing and tasted it.’
  • ‘Keep the icing in a bowl, covered with a damp paper towel and a layer of plastic wrap.’
  • ‘My friend is an excellent cook and she has planned the menu carefully, from pressure-cooking the beans for the homemade hummus to the icing on the brownies.’
  • ‘For the icing, melt chocolate then stir until smooth and whisk in cream.’
  • ‘Re-melt the chocolate if necessary, and then drizzle over the icing.’
  • ‘The sponge was moist and the icing simply scrumptious!’

  Synonyms

  glaze, sugar paste

  View synonyms

• 2The formation of ice on an aircraft, ship, or other vehicle, or in an engine.

  ‘Mixed ice is the most dangerous kind of airframe icing due to its weight and disruption to the airflow.’

  More example sentences

  • ‘Compared to the turbulence, the hail and the lightning, icing was the biggest threat of all.’
  • ‘Signs of engine icing could include loss of power, abnormal or slow RPM response to throttle movement, and indications of engine surge or stall.’
  • ‘As I watched sheets of ice being thrown off our rotor blades, I realized how serious the icing had been.’
  • ‘The report also confirmed that the icing may not have been noticed by Mr Baldwin because of safety implements fitted in the vehicle.’

• 3US Ice Hockey
  The action of shooting the puck from one's own end of the rink to the other but not into the goal, for which the referee calls a face-off in one's own end.

  ‘I am 100% in favor of automatic icing when the puck crosses the red line without having to chase it down.’

  More example sentences

  • ‘The momentum bar shows which of the teams is on a roll and often reminds the opposing team that it might be time to dump the puck for an icing call just to relieve the pressure and momentum against them.’
  • ‘The hockey has not been elegant - there were more icings in the third period of Game 3 than there are in an entire season of The Sopranos - but it has been effective.’