keep someone on ice
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
To delay or put someone's plans on hold
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
Hoãn hoặc đặt kế hoạch của ai đó vào tình trạng chờ
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: preserve someone in a frozen state
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
The company will keep the new employee on ice until the project starts
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “keep someone on ice” mean?
To delay or put someone's plans on hold Literally: preserve someone in a frozen state
Is “keep someone on ice” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.