on ice
Idioms-
In reserve or readiness. This idiom often occurs with put , meaning “to place in reserve,” as in Let's put that proposal on ice until we have the funds to implement it . This usage alludes to putting things in cold storage for preservation. [ Slang ; late 1800s]
-
In prison, as in He's been on ice for ten years . This usage may be derived in part from the slang term cooler for “jail.” [ Slang ; c. 1930]
-
With a good chance of success, as in I'm sure she'll win—it's on ice . [ Slang ; early 1900s]
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.
In late November, the agency announced a 1,153% increase in assaults on ICE agents from Jan. 21 to Nov. 21, with 238 reported assaults this year compared to 19 in the same time frame in 2024.
From Los Angeles Times
The government has slowly started releasing the backlog of economic data reports that were put on ice due to the record-long shutdown.
“If we as women are putting our eggs on ice for a decade to make sure that our career is thriving,” she said, “we have a prioritization problem.”
Her career in China has been on ice since.
From Barron's
"People think climate change is this faraway thing and you have these visions in your mind of polar bears on ice caps, but actually it's something that's very close to home," Mr Harman-Turner said.
From BBC
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.
