ice pick
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of ice pick
First recorded in 1860–65
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
If we encounter any ice, we have an ice pick or sledgehammer.
From Slate ● Feb. 24, 2026
Tariq recalls a colleague poking fun at his bald spot during a shopping trip, and describing that as "like an ice pick to my heart".
From BBC ● Oct. 31, 2025
In June 1975, Angela Davis wrote about an incarcerated Black woman, Joan Little, who killed a white prison guard in North Carolina with the ice pick he brought into her cell.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2023
“Any time they try to reach past what their range of motion is, everyone describes it to me like a knife or an ice pick in their shoulders. It can be excruciating.”
From Washington Post ● Oct. 7, 2021
“Look at you, slick. Sharper than a ice pick, ain’t ya?” he said, extending his hand to me.
From "The Boy in the Black Suit" by Jason Reynolds
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
