To Put (Some One) on Ice

Posted by ESC on March 05, 2003

In Reply to: To Put (Some One) on Ice posted by S. Ryan on March 05, 2003

: : : : Hello, I was just hoping to learn the meaning and origin of the phrase "to put (some one) on ice". Thanks in advance for any assistance.

: : : Over here in the UK, to put someone or something on ice means to put to one side, to decide to deal with the person or thing at a much later date. I suspect the idiom comes from the storage of food, where literally putting some perishable item on ice meant that you could indeed come back to it at a later stage.

: : PUT ON ICE - "Set aside; stored; kept in reserve until needed. The ice house or ice box, filled with blocks of ice cut from a lake or a river, predates the gas or electric refrigerator. People were putting food on blocks of ice a century ago to preserve it. The idea transferred readily to things other than food. Paul L. Ford offered this version in 'The Honorable Peter Stirling' : 'They say she's never been able to find a man good enough for her, so she's keeping herself on ice." From The Dictionary of Cliches by James Rogers (Ballantine Books, New York, 1985).

: : interesting, so far. Here, to "put someone on ice" or to "ice" someone means to do away with them, to kill them.

If you "ice" someone, you kill him. Refers to the chilling of the corpse. Gruesome, isn't it.

Where is here? Are you in the U.S., Britain or elsewhere? We're becoming an international group.

• To Put (Some One) on Ice S. Ryan 03/05/03
  • To Put (Some One) on Ice ESC 03/05/03
    • To Put (Some One) on Ice Lewis 03/06/03
• To Put (Some One) on Ice S. Ryan 03/05/03