Icebox

/ˈaɪsbɑks/ noun

Definition

A refrigerator, or historically a box insulated with ice blocks used to keep food cold before electric refrigeration was invented.

Etymology

Compound word from 'ice' plus 'box,' dating back to the 1800s when homes literally used blocks of ice stored in insulated boxes to preserve food. The word was still used as slang for refrigerators well into the 1900s.

Kelly Says

The term 'icebox' is a ghost word from the Industrial Revolution—it reminds us that people once had jobs as 'icemen' who would deliver fresh blocks of ice to houses, and before that, ice was harvested from frozen lakes in winter and stored underground for summer use.

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