icing

UK/ˈaɪsɪŋ/US/ˈaɪsɪŋ/

nounB1Common in everyday speech and writing · #7,166 of 15,258neutral

Icing is the sweet coating spread over a cake. Pipe the icing, royal icing, icing sugar.

Royal icing sets hard and buttercream stays soft, which is why one is used for decoration that must hold a shape and the other for eating. Americans say frosting for the soft kind. The icing on the cake means a good thing added to something already good.

Definitions of icing

1nounicingThe sweet coating spread over a cake.B1
“She covered the birthday cake with pink icing.”

icing is a coating.

Also accepted in games: frosting

Where it comes from

The gerund of the verb ice, from the resemblance of the white coating to ice.

Gerund of the verb ice.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Weddings & Celebrations

Practise this word

icing in the wild

Edible dyes can be added to icing mixtures to achieve a desired hue.
Icing (food)
Sprinkles, edible inks or other decorations are often used on top of icing.
Icing (food)
The icing rule has three variations: touch icing, no-touch (also called automatic icing), and hybrid icing.
Icing (ice hockey)
Many professional leagues use hybrid icing, while many amateur leagues worldwide use no-touch or automatic icing.
Icing (ice hockey)
De-icing is the process of removing snow, ice or frost from a surface.
Deicing

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the icing on the cake

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