What does "ice" mean?

1. (frozen water) water that has become solid because it is very cold. 2. (frozen dessert) a sweet, frozen food made from fruit juice and sugar. 3. (diamonds) a slang word for diamonds or expensive jewellery. 4. (to cool or chill) to make something cold by putting ice on it or around it. 5. (to cover with frosting) to cover a cake or biscuit with a sweet sugar coating. 6. (to murder) a slang word meaning to kill someone. 7. (made of ice) made of or relating to ice.

ice — meaning, definition & examples

Word

01frozen water

A1 · Beginner Uncountable noun

n. water that has become solid because it is very cold.

n. water in its solid crystalline state due to freezing temperatures. Uncountable in its general sense.

“He put two cubes of ice into his glass of water to make it cold.”

“The hikers were warned that the thin ice on the lake would not support their weight during the spring thaw.”

Synonyms

frost

Antonyms

water steam

02frozen dessert

B1 · Intermediate Countable noun Cooking

n. a sweet, frozen food made from fruit juice and sugar.

n. a frozen confection typically composed of water, sugar, and fruit flavourings; distinct from dairy-based ice cream.

“The children enjoyed a lemon ice on the beach during the hot afternoon.”

“For dessert, the chef prepared a refreshing raspberry ice to cleanse the palate after the heavy main course.”

Synonyms

sorbetgranita

03diamonds

C1 · Advanced Uncountable noun Slang · Informal

n. a slang word for diamonds or expensive jewellery.

n. a slang term for diamonds or high-value jewellery, often used in hip-hop culture or crime fiction.

“The rapper was wearing a lot of ice around his neck at the awards show.”

“The heist movie focused on a group of thieves attempting to steal millions of dollars worth of ice from a high-security vault.”

Synonyms

diamonds jewelsbling

04to cool or chill

B1 · Intermediate

v. to make something cold by putting ice on it or around it.

v. to chill a beverage or food item using ice; also used in medicine to treat inflammation.

“You should ice your ankle for twenty minutes to stop the swelling.”

“The caterers began to ice the champagne bottles hours before the guests were scheduled to arrive for the reception.”

Synonyms

chill refrigerate

Antonyms

heat warm

05to cover with frosting

B1 · Intermediate Cooking

v. to cover a cake or biscuit with a sweet sugar coating.

v. to apply icing or frosting to a baked good. Transitive use.

“Wait for the cupcakes to cool down before you ice them.”

“The baker carefully began to ice the wedding cake with a smooth layer of royal icing.”

Synonyms

frost glaze

06to murder

C2 · Proficiency Slang · Vulgar

v. a slang word meaning to kill someone.

v. to murder or assassinate someone. Highly informal and typically found in crime-related contexts.

“In the movie, the gangster ordered his men to ice the witness.”

“The protagonist feared that the syndicate would ice him if he failed to deliver the stolen documents by midnight.”

Synonyms

kill murder eliminate

07made of ice

A2 · Elementary

adj. made of or relating to ice.

adj. composed of ice or occurring on ice. Often used as an attributive adjective.

“The ice rink was crowded with families on Saturday morning.”

“The expedition team struggled to navigate the treacherous ice fields during the peak of the Antarctic winter.”

Synonyms

icy frozen

From Middle English hyse, hyys, ice, ijs, is, yce, ys, yys, from Old English īs, from Proto-West Germanic īs, from Proto-Germanic īsą (“ice”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁eyH- (“ice, frost”). Cognates Cognate with North Frisian Iis, is (“ice”), Saterland Frisian Ies (“ice”), West Frisian iis (“ice”), Alemannic German Iis, isch, éisch (“ice”), Bavarian, Cimbrian, and Mòcheno ais (“ice”), Dutch ijs (“ice”), German Eis (“ice”), German Low German Ies (“ice”), Luxembourgish Äis (“ice”), Vilamovian ajs (“ice”), Yiddish אײַז (ayz, “ice”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish is (“ice”), Elfdalian ais (“ice”), Faroese ísur (“ice”), Icelandic ís (“ice”); also Cornish yey (“ice”), yeyn (“cold”), Irish oighear (“ice”), Scottish Gaelic deigh, eigh, eighre (“ice”), Welsh iâ (“ice”), Lithuanian ýnis (“hoar frost”), Bulgarian and Russian и́ней (ínej, “hoar frost”), Czech jíní (“frost”), Macedonian and Serbo-Croatian и́ње (“hoar frost”), Ukrainian і́ній (ínij, “hoar frost, rime”), Ossetian их (ix, “ice”), Armenian եղյամ (eġyam, “frost, hoar frost, rime”), Persian یخ (yax, “ice”), Hittite 𒂊𒃷 (“ice”). Superseded non-native Middle English glace (“ice”), borrowed from Old French glace (“ice”).

Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

NOUN

ice(A1)