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rime (RAIM) - n., originally (now rare/arch.), frozen dew forming a white deposit on exposed surfaces; now (meteor.), ice formed by the rapid freezing of the water vapor of fog on a cold surface.
So the first sense is a synonym of hoarfrost, while the latter is in contrast to it in that in meteorology, hoarfrost forms by first condensing as liquid dew before freezing while rime is the desublimation (I wish we had a better word for the conversion from gas to solid, the way we have for all the other phase transitions) of supercooled vapor directly into ice. Also a verb, to cover with rime, and also an obsolete alternate spelling of rhyme. This one goes back to Old English hrīm, frost, and beyond to a Proto-Germanic root, still also frost, ultimately probably from PIE *krey- in its sense of to streak (its more common sense is to touch/graze).
---L.
So the first sense is a synonym of hoarfrost, while the latter is in contrast to it in that in meteorology, hoarfrost forms by first condensing as liquid dew before freezing while rime is the desublimation (I wish we had a better word for the conversion from gas to solid, the way we have for all the other phase transitions) of supercooled vapor directly into ice. Also a verb, to cover with rime, and also an obsolete alternate spelling of rhyme. This one goes back to Old English hrīm, frost, and beyond to a Proto-Germanic root, still also frost, ultimately probably from PIE *krey- in its sense of to streak (its more common sense is to touch/graze).
---L.
