A slight thaw had crippled it so that it had become a hunch-backed figure, glazed with the icy sheen that had formed upon it overnight.

In Denver on Sunday, the end of 85 hours of subzero temperatures allowed a slight thaw that unleashed a flood of calls reporting broken pipes.

The French action comes during a slight thaw in French relations with Iran.

Mrs. Mott did not reply to Rachel, but there was a slight thaw in her manner.

In recent days, there have been tiny hints of a slight thaw in the media's temperature.

The period from the 1960s saw a slight ideological "thaw" that culminated in the fall of the iron curtain (Żelazna kurtyna) in 1989.

For a short time, there was a slight thaw in police-press relations, but soon the old pattern resumed.

A slight thaw about midday made the going heavy.

It is now 1954, Stalin is dead, there is a slight political thaw.

It's only when there's been a slight thaw that some of th' pebble nuggets kin be seen.