1. [n]  warm weather following a freeze; snow and ice melt; "they welcomed the spring thaw"
2. [n]  the process whereby heat changes something from a solid to a liquid; "the power failure caused a refrigerator melt that was a disaster"; "the thawing of a frozen turkey takes several hours"
3. [v]  become or cause to become soft or liquid; "The sun melted the ice"; "the ice thawed"; "the ice cream melted"; "The heat melted the wax"

Thaw
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1. \Thaw\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Thawed}; p. pr. & vb. n.
   {Thawing}.] [AS. [thorn][=a]wian, [thorn][=a]wan; akin to D.
   dovijen, G. tauen, thauen (cf. also verdauen 8digest, OHG.
   douwen, firdouwen), Icel. [thorn]eyja, Sw. t["o]a, Dan.
   t["o]e, and perhaps to Gr. ? to melt. [root]56.]
   1. To melt, dissolve, or become fluid; to soften; -- said of
      that which is frozen; as, the ice thaws.
   2. To become so warm as to melt ice and snow; -- said in
      reference to the weather, and used impersonally.
   3. Fig.: To grow gentle or genial.
   

2. \Thaw\, v. t.
   To cause (frozen things, as earth, snow, ice) to melt,
   soften, or dissolve.
   

3. \Thaw\, n.
   The melting of ice, snow, or other congealed matter; the
   resolution of ice, or the like, into the state of a fluid;
   liquefaction by heat of anything congealed by frost; also, a
   warmth of weather sufficient to melt that which is congealed.
   --Dryden.