Icebox

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈʌɪsbɒks/

Definitions

1. An insulated cabinet or box that holds blocks of ice to keep food cold before mechanical refrigeration became available
2. A storage unit that uses ice to keep food items cold and fresh, commonly utilized before the invention of electric refrigeration
3. A refrigerated container designed to preserve food by utilizing ice for cooling, predominantly found before modern refrigeration methods were developed

Etymology: The history here is plain: "icebox" is a compound of "ice" and "box," and both parts have long roots in English. "Ice" comes from Old English "īs," inherited from Proto-Germanic, while "box" has a more winding path. It passed into Old English from Late Latin "buxis," which in turn came from Ancient Greek "pyxis," a small container, originally made of boxwood. Old English "box" meant a container of this kind, and the same wood gave the tree its name, so a box and the tree that yielded its timber share a single line of descent. The word's meaning itself is the surprising part. An icebox was, quite literally, a box holding ice, and that was the whole mechanism of cooling: a compartment packed with a block of ice that kept food cold as the ice slowly melted. Ice was cut from frozen lakes and ponds in winter, stored in insulated ice houses, and delivered to homes, so the word describes a container whose cooling depended entirely on a supply of ice.

Synonyms: refrigerator, cooler, chiller, fridge, ice chest

Antonyms: oven, heater, stove