In literature, "spring frost" is sometimes employed not as a meteorological phenomenon but as a vivid, metaphorical color that evokes qualities of delicate beauty and transient emotion. For example, in one passage the phrase is used to describe a character’s fading bashfulness—its cool, pale luster suggesting both vulnerability and a fleeting brilliance [1]. A similar metaphor appears when a character’s tender nature is likened to the ephemeral quality of a spring frost, implying that like the diaphanous ice on an early morning, sensitive traits can melt away under warmth and time [2]. In another instance, girls are described as "spring frosts," conjuring images of a soft, shimmering light that decorates them with an almost otherworldly, transient charm [3]. Together, these literary uses transform a common natural occurrence into a richly textural color metaphor, deepening the emotional palette of the works in which it appears.
- His bashfulness melted like a spring frost His brow bent like a cliff o'er his thoughts His cheeks were furrowed and writhen like rain-washed crags
— from Fifteen Thousand Useful Phrases
A Practical Handbook Of Pertinent Expressions, Striking Similes, Literary, Commercial, Conversational, And Oratorical Terms, For The Embellishment Of Speech And Literature, And The Improvement Of The Vocabulary Of Those Persons Who Read, Write, And Speak English by Grenville Kleiser
- She hung back in a dazzle of tears, looking so bright and tender that Odo's bashfulness melted like a spring frost.
— from The Valley of Decision by Edith Wharton
- Girls were spring frosts to her.
— from One of Our Conquerors — Complete by George Meredith