Jump To:

• ice
  ice

  noun

  the solid form of water, produced by freezing; frozen water.
• ICE
  ICE

  noun

  Immigration and Customs Enforcement: a federal agency tasked with interior enforcement of U.S. customs and immigration laws, including cross-border investigations of criminal activity, and the arrest, detention, and removal of undocumented aliens.
• -ice
  -ice

  a suffix of nouns, indicating state or quality, appearing in loanwords from French.
• Ice.
  Ice.

  abbreviation

  Iceland.

ice

¹ American  

[ahys] / aɪs /

noun

• ice
  plural

1. the solid form of water, produced by freezing; frozen water.

2. the frozen surface of a body of water.

3. any substance resembling frozen water.

   camphor ice.

4. a frozen dessert made of sweetened water and fruit juice.

5. British. ice cream.

6. icing, as on a cake.

7. reserve; formality.

   The ice of his manner betrayed his dislike of the new ambassador.

8. Slang.

   1. a diamond or diamonds.

   2. protection money paid to the police by the operator of an illicit business.

   3. a fee that a ticket broker pays to a theater manager in order to receive a favorable allotment of tickets.

---

verb (used with object)

• ices,
  present (3rd person singular)
• iced,
  past participle,  past
• icing
  present participle

1. to cover with ice.

2. to change into ice; freeze.

3. to cool with ice, as a drink.

4. to cover (cake, sweet rolls, etc.) with icing; frost.

5. to refrigerate with ice, as air.

6. to make cold, as if with ice.

7. to preserve by placing on ice.

8. Ice Hockey. (especially in Canada) to put (a team) into formal play.

9. Slang.

   1. to settle or seal; make sure of, as by signing a contract.

      We'll ice the deal tomorrow.

   2. to make (a business arrangement) more attractive by adding features or benefits.

      The star pitcher wouldn't sign his new contract until the team iced it with a big bonus.

   3. to kill, especially to murder.

      The mobsters threatened to ice him if he went to the police.

10. Sports Slang. to establish a winning score or insurmountable lead in or otherwise assure victory in (a game or contest).

    Her second goal iced the game.

verb (used without object)

• ices,
  present (3rd person singular)
• iced,
  past participle,  past
• icing
  present participle

1. to change to ice; freeze.

   The sherbet is icing in the refrigerator.

2. to be coated with ice (often followed byup ).

   The windshield has iced up.

adjective

1. of or made of ice.

   ice shavings;

   an ice sculpture.

2. for holding ice and food or drink to be chilled.

   an ice bucket;

   an ice chest.

3. on or done on the ice.

   ice yachting.

idioms

1. ice it, stop it; that's enough.

   You've been complaining all day, so ice it.

2. break the ice,

   1. to succeed initially; make a beginning.

   2. to overcome reserve, awkwardness, or formality within a group, as in introducing persons.

      The chairman broke the ice with his warm and very amusing remarks.

3. ice the puck, to hit the puck to the far end of the rink, especially from the defensive area across the offensive area.

4. on thin ice, in a precarious or delicate situation: Also skating on thin ice.

   You may pass the course, but you're on thin ice right now.

5. on ice,

   1. with a good chance of success or realization.

      Now that the contract is on ice we can begin operating again.

   2. out of activity, as in confinement or imprisonment.

   3. in a state of abeyance or readiness.

      Let's put that topic on ice for the moment.

6. cut no ice, to have no influence or importance; fail to impress.

   Her father's position cuts no ice with me.

ICE ² American  

[ahys] / aɪs /

noun

1. Immigration and Customs Enforcement: a federal agency tasked with interior enforcement of U.S. customs and immigration laws, including cross-border investigations of criminal activity, and the arrest, detention, and removal of undocumented aliens.

2. in case of emergency: (usually designating an emergency-contact phone number in one's cell phone contact list).

   The paramedic found my mom's ICE number immediately.

---

-ice ³ American  

1. a suffix of nouns, indicating state or quality, appearing in loanwords from French.

   notice.

---

Ice. ⁴ American  

abbreviation

1. Iceland.

2. Icelandic.

---

ICE ¹ British  

abbreviation

1. Institution of Civil Engineers

---

ice ² British  

/ aɪs /

noun

1. water in the solid state, formed by freezing liquid water

2. a portion of ice cream

3. slang a diamond or diamonds

4. the field of play in ice hockey

5. slang a concentrated and highly potent form of methamphetamine with dangerous side effects

6. 1. to relieve shyness, etc, esp between strangers

   2. to be the first of a group to do something

7. informal to fail to make an impression

8. in abeyance; pending

9. unsafe or unsafely; vulnerable or vulnerably

10. informal Antarctica

---

verb

1. to form or cause to form ice; freeze

2. (tr) to mix with ice or chill (a drink, etc)

3. (tr) to cover (a cake, etc) with icing

4. slang (tr) to kill

5. 1. to shoot the puck from one end of the rink to the other

   2. to select which players will play in a game

Ice. ³ British  

abbreviation

1. Iceland(ic)

---

ice Scientific  

/ īs /

1. A solid consisting of frozen water. Ice forms at or below a temperature of 0°C (32°F). Ice expands during the process of freezing, with the result that its density is lower than that of water.

2. A solid form of a substance, especially of a substance that is a liquid or a gas at room temperature at sea level on Earth. The nuclei of many comets contain methane ice.

---

ice More Idioms  

1. see break the ice; cut no ice; on ice; on thin ice; put on ice; tip of the iceberg.

---

Usage

What else does ICE mean? ICE stands for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a federal agency of the U. S. Department of Homeland Security.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• reice
  verb
• unice
  verb (used with object)
• iceless
  adjective
• icelike
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• ice
  plural

Participles

• icing
  present
• iced
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• ice
  simple
• ices
  simple
• have iced
  perfect
• has iced
  perfect
• am icing
  progressive
• are icing
  progressive
• is icing
  progressive
• have been icing
  perfect progressive
• has been icing
  perfect progressive

Past

• iced
  simple
• had iced
  perfect
• was icing
  progressive
• were icing
  progressive
• had been icing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will ice
  simple
• will have iced
  perfect
• will be icing
  progressive
• will have been icing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of ice¹

First recorded before 900; 1905–10 ice for def. 8a; Middle English, Old English īs; cognate with German Eis, Old Norse īss

Origin of -ice³

Middle English -ice, -ise < Old French < Latin -itius, -itia, -itium abstract noun suffix

Explanation

Ice is water that's gotten cold enough to freeze solid. When the pond in your neighborhood is solid ice in January, it's safe to skate on. Ice takes many forms; you might slip on the ice, scrape sheets of ice off your car windows, or drop ice into your drink. In every case, the ice is frozen water, and when it freezes, it ices, the way roads ice over on winter nights. When you sprain your wrist, you should probably ice it, or hold ice on the injured area. You can also ice — or frost — a cupcake, or eat a sweet, cold fruit-flavored ice.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

ice ICE -ice Ice. ices iced icing

In late winter, the waves of energy released by El Niño can move upwards through the atmosphere making it more likely that the polar vortex becomes disrupted, increasing the chance of ice and snow.

From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026

As water, ice, and air move around the planet with the seasons, they redistribute enough weight to push the center of mass back and forth by fractions of an inch relative to Earth's geometric center.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 7, 2026

I recently finished an ice cream in Copenhagen and found myself stumped at the trash bins, wrapper in hand.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026

The chemistry prize follows the physics prize, which on Tuesday honoured Belgian physicist Francis Halzen for groundbreaking work using Antarctic ice to capture particles originating in the distant cosmos.

From Barron's ● Oct. 7, 2026

Moments later, Karli was lying there limp on the ice.

From "An Elephant in the Garden" by Michael Morpurgo

DHS, which oversees ICE, didn’t respond to a request for comment.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026

In an email response to The Times, an unidentified spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said “any claim that there are subprime conditions at Adelanto ICE Processing Center are false.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2026

ICE has been involved in several high-profile shootings this year, including the killing of two US citizens in Minneapolis, which sparked angry protests.

From Barron's ● Oct. 8, 2026

When Watters pressed him about abolishing ICE, he did not surrender the moral argument or get stuck in a defensive loop.

From Salon ● Oct. 8, 2026

I know about ICE, and I know they can’t take citizens like me and Mom away, so you won’t scare me.

From "Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer" by Kelly Jones

Mixed doubles curling continues and we add another two sports into the mix -ice hockey and moguls skiing.

From BBC ● Feb. 1, 2022

“Welcome to Ice. … Your duty location is New York, New York. Your EOD was on Tuesday, September 30th, 2025.”

From Slate ● Jan. 13, 2026

I’m like, ‘Well, you’re not my enemy. There’s another Ice. You don’t want to meet him.’

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 22, 2024

“They demo’d it to Ice. The FBI is testing it.”

From The Guardian ● Jan. 31, 2019

As she celebrated on the court, she pointed to the vein in the crook of her shooting arm and said “Ice. Ice. Ice.”

From Washington Times ● Apr. 2, 2018

“I’ve had many names. The Gray Ghost. The Queen of Ice. Recently, the animals have started calling me the Ancient Shark. However, you may call me by my true name: Gurry.”

From "The Wild Robot Protects" by Peter Brown

What ices it is that Quraishi offered to postpone this hearing given Judge Brann’s ruling that the office is operating illegally.

From Slate ● Mar. 20, 2026

As polar ices melt in the coming years, new shipping routes are expected to open up.

From BBC ● Jan. 5, 2026

These objects are similar to asteroids, except they contain ices such as water or carbon dioxide.

From Salon ● May 16, 2024

The model the researchers created for the study accounts for this change and suggests that the highly volatile ices in these objects stick around much longer than was previously thought.

From Science Daily ● Mar. 27, 2024

He had known too many Marine wives and children who had come to their front door and found dour messengers, their faces carved from the ices of duty, standing with tragic news welting their tongues.

From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy

He held an Arizona iced tea in one hand and his Rottweiler mix Lady in the other.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2026

She brought an iced coffee to a job interview.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2026

During the episode, bakers made American-style cookies, recreated iced gems and created a "visually striking" biscuit mosaic.

From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2026

She says her industry - marketing - is really tough right now, and she doesn't know of any Gen Z candidates who would risk turning up to an interview with an iced coffee.

From BBC ● Sep. 25, 2026

“No? I would like a glass of iced yaupon holly tea and, well, actually, I need directions. I have to find my way back to my auntie’s to make one hundred pieces of frybread.”

From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith

The researchers compare this arrangement to chocolate chips embedded in a cookie, while organic dye molecules covering the outside resemble icing.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 20, 2026

Getting the color and appearance right for the icing on cupcakes alone required a nearly thirtyfold increase in natural ingredients.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 16, 2026

It might also mean a thick slice of homemade apple Bundt cake under a generous coat of cream cheese icing, eaten with coffee.

From Salon ● Aug. 31, 2026

"I think it's what spurs you on really, finding a new species. It's like the icing on the cake, or the cherry on top."

From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2026

The melted window glass hung frozen down the walls like icing on a cake.

From "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy

Related Words

• bling
• bling-bling
• diamond
• diamonds