icebox

American  

[ahys-boks] / ˈaɪsˌbɒks /

noun

• iceboxes
  plural

1. an insulated cabinet or chest with a partition for ice, used for preserving or cooling food, beverages, etc.

2. Older Use. an electric or gas refrigerator.

3. Nautical. an enclosed area in the bottom of a vessel through which sea water can be pumped up for use in the condenser in icy waters.

4. Slang. an isolation cell in a prison.

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icebox British  

/ ˈaɪsˌbɒks /

noun

1. a compartment in a refrigerator for storing or making ice

2. an insulated cabinet packed with ice for storing food

3. a refrigerator

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• iceboxes
  plural

Etymology

Origin of icebox

First recorded in 1830–40; ice + box ¹

Explanation

Icebox is an old-fashioned word for "refrigerator." Better get those bottles the milkman left on the porch and put them in the icebox — it's hot outside! Before the invention of electric refrigerators in the early 20th century, people used iceboxes to keep their perishable food chilled. These insulated cabinets evolved from outdoor ice houses, which continued to be useful for storing the ice used in kitchen iceboxes. An "iceman" would deliver fresh ice daily or weekly, and it would remain frozen inside the wooden, metal-lined icebox long enough to keep food safe. Icebox is also used regionally to refer to the modern fridge.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

icebox iceboxes

Parpart wasn’t the first to do this; in 1913, Fred W. Wolf patented an electric refrigerator that consisted of a refrigeration unit placed on top of an icebox.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 9, 2026

Miraculously, the line of people that usually snakes down Melrose yearning for a slice of chef Karla Subero Pittol’s passion lime fruit icebox pie is nonexistent today.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 10, 2026

Airport authorities and police seized six pieces of rhinoceros horn and around 12 kilograms of unidentified meat used to conceal them inside a polystyrene icebox.

From Barron's ● Feb. 10, 2026

At Salon, we’ve revisited sweet salads, icebox cakes, tuna melts, baked spaghetti and the classic holiday cheese ball — all familiar flavors, reimagined just enough to feel new.

From Salon ● Dec. 20, 2025

My mother looks up from where she’s jammed in the corner, scrubbing the icebox.

From "Al Capone Does My Shirts" by Gennifer Choldenko

Before electric refrigeration, households relied on iceboxes, which required frequent deliveries of heavy blocks of ice, constant draining of meltwater and careful food planning to avoid spoilage.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 9, 2026

They then numbered and packed the samples so they could be carried down the mountain in iceboxes and then transferred via four-wheel-drive vehicles to refrigerated trucks further down the mountain.

From Barron's ● Nov. 7, 2025

Instead, he shaded toward realism, but only just, creating soft, flat, crowded compositions of cartoon steaks spilling out of iceboxes and rubbery superheroes with snaking limbs.

From New York Times ● Jul. 13, 2021

The so-called "iceboxes", notorious among migrants, are extremely cold rooms or cubicles in US Border Patrol migrant processing facilities.

From BBC ● May 23, 2021

The mundane details of life impressed him too — the neatly made milk cartons, the spring-loaded window shades, the electric iceboxes everywhere.

From "Typical American" by Gish Jen

Related Words

• bitter
• bleak
• brisk
• chilled
• cool
• crisp
• frigid
• frosty
• frozen
• icy
• intense
• raw
• snowy
• wintry