Definition of "givre" [givre]

• An efflorescence on vanilla-pods. See the extract. (noun)

The Century Dictionary (Public Domain)

• "The pods of the best varieties are, strangely enough, chocolate-colored, and are flecked with a crystalline substance called givre, or vanillin, a fragrant chemical secreted by the pod lining that gives vanilla its characteristic flavor."
• "The country looked beautiful in the bright winter sunshine, the distant forest always in a blue mist, the trees with their branches white with "givre" (hoarfrost), and patches of snow and ice all over the fields."
• "Dans un square écarté, morne et couverte de givre, Où se cache un hôtel, aux vieux lions de cuivre; and the hero of the tale, a young French poet, who is in London, is truly unhappy in that village."