quick-freeze

American

[kwik-freez] / ˈkwɪkˈfriz /

verb (used with object)

quick-froze, quick-frozen, quick-freezing

to freeze (cooked or uncooked food) rapidly, permitting it to be stored almost indefinitely at freezing temperatures.

quick-freeze British

verb

(tr) to preserve (food) by subjecting it to rapid refrigeration at temperatures of 0°C or lower

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of quick-freeze

First recorded in 1925–30

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.

It has a stop-and-start rhythm of quick-freeze balletic poses and long pauses set against bursts of larger movements and loud footfalls.

From New York Times • Mar. 10, 2023

For faster freezing: Some freezers have a quick-freeze shelf that should be used.

From Washington Post • May 13, 2020

Now it’s core staff, hair-netted and suited up, spreading fat sea scallops across a mechanized belt and running them through two brine tanks and two washes and then a quick-freeze.

From Washington Post • Apr. 8, 2020

The field he picked for conquest was Georgia's excess peach crop, which he planned to quick-freeze and market in the off season.

From Time Magazine Archive

When friends -raved over a dish of Franey's sweetbreads in champagne sauce, without realizing that it had been frozen, Franey and his staff of 15 Howard Johnson chefs went into the quick-freeze business in earnest.

From Time Magazine Archive

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023