freeze
n. countablen. a period when a company or government stops prices, wages, or hiring from increasing. In computing, it is when a screen or program stops moving and does not respond to you.
n. a temporary suspension of activity, growth, or change, typically applied to financial assets, recruitment, or prices. In a technical context, it refers to a state where a software application or system becomes unresponsive to user input.
The company announced a hiring freeze until next year.
The government implemented a price freeze on essential goods to combat the sudden rise in inflation.
Following the security breach, the bank placed an immediate freeze on all outgoing international transfers to prevent further unauthorized withdrawals from customer accounts.
From Middle English fresen, from Old English frēosan (“to freeze”), from Proto-West Germanic freusan, from Proto-Germanic freusaną (“to freeze”), from Proto-Indo-European *prews- (“to freeze; frost”). Cognates Cognate with North Frisian friis, friise, früüs (“to freeze”), Saterland Frisian fjoose, frjoze (“to freeze”), West Frisian frieze (“to freeze”), Central Franconian freese (“to freeze”), Cimbrian briizan, vriizan (“to be cold”), Dutch vriezen (“to freeze”), Low German freren, fresen (“to freeze”), Luxembourgish fréieren (“to freeze”), German frieren (“to freeze”), Yiddish פֿרירן (frirn, “freeze”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål fryse (“to freeze”), Icelandic frjósa (“to freeze”), Norwegian Nynorsk frysa, fryse (“to freeze”), Swedish frysa (“to freeze”); also Cornish rew (“frost, ice”), Irish reo (“frost”), reoigh (“to freeze”), Manx rio (“frost, ice”), Scottish Gaelic reòdh, reòth (“freeze”), Welsh rhew (“frost, ice”), Latin pruīna (“hoarfrost, rime”), Albanian prush (“embers”), Lithuanian prausti (“to give showers of rain”), Czech prskat (“to splutter, sputter”), Macedonian прска (prska, “to spray, sprinkle”), Polish pryskać, prysnąć (“to spray, sprinkle”), Russian пры́скать (prýskatʹ), пры́снуть (prýsnutʹ, “to spray, sprinkle”), Serbo-Croatian прскати, prskati (“to spray, sprinkle”), Sanskrit प्रुष्णोति (pruṣṇoti, “to moisten, shower, sprinkle, wet”), प्रुष्वा (pruṣvā, “hoarfrost, ice, rime”), Saraiki پسݨ (pussaṇ, “to become wet”).
See the above verb.
Often used with 'on' to specify what is being stopped, such as a 'freeze on recruitment' or a 'freeze on assets'.