I. ice 1 S2 W3 /aɪs/ BrE AmE noun
[ Word Family: verb : ↑ ice , ↑ de-ice ; noun : ↑ ice , ↑ icicle ; adjective : ↑ icy , ↑ iced ; adverb : ↑ icily ]
[ Language: Old English ; Origin: is ]
1 . [uncountable] water that has frozen into a solid state ⇨ icy :
Would you like some ice in your drink?
Her hands were as cold as ice.
The city spent $7 million to remove snow and ice from the roads.
2 . keep/put something on ice to do nothing about a plan or suggestion for a period of time:
I’m putting my plans for a new car on ice until I finish college.
3 . be (skating) on thin ice to be in a situation in which you are likely to upset someone or cause trouble:
Don’t be late again, Hugo – you’re skating on thin ice.
4 . the ice a specially prepared surface of ice where you can ↑ ice skate or play ↑ ice hockey :
The two teams are ready to take to the ice.
5 . [countable]
a) a frozen sweet food made with fruit juice SYN sorbet
b) especially British English old-fashioned an ↑ ice cream
6 . [uncountable] American English diamonds
⇨ ↑ black ice , ↑ dry ice , ⇨ break the ice at ↑ break 1 (29), ⇨ cut no ice at ↑ cut 1 (39)
• • •
COLLOCATIONS
■ adjectives
▪ thick
Thick ice was preventing the ship from moving.
▪ thin
The ice is too thin to skate on.
▪ black ice (=a layer of thin ice on a road that is very difficult to see)
Black ice on the roads is making driving conditions very dangerous.
▪ crushed ice (=broken into small pieces, for example to add to a drink)
Serve the cocktail with crushed ice.
▪ polar ice
Global warming directly causes the melting of polar ice.
■ verbs
▪ be covered in ice
Our driveway was covered in ice.
▪ ice melts
The ice in my glass had begun to melt.
▪ ice forms
Ice was forming on the surface of the lake.
▪ ice cracks
We could feel the ice cracking beneath our feet.
▪ scrape the ice off something
I scraped the ice off the car windscreen.
■ ice + NOUN
▪ an ice cube (=a small square piece of ice that you add to a drink)
She put a couple of ice cubes in her glass.
▪ a lump of ice (=a large piece of ice)
Huge lumps of ice break off from the glaciers and float in the sea.
▪ ice crystals (=very small pieces of ice that form naturally)
Ice crystals fall from the sky as snowflakes.
■ phrases
▪ a block of ice
The fish were packed in blocks of ice, ready for transportation.
▪ a sheet of ice
A thin sheet of ice had formed over the surface of the pond.
▪ a slab of ice (=a thick flat piece of ice)
Huge slabs of ice drifted down the frozen river.
• • •
THESAURUS
▪ ice water that has frozen into a solid state:
ice cubes in her Coke
|
the ice on the lake
▪ frost a thin coating of white powder-like ice that forms on the ground and plants, or the weather conditions in which this powder appears:
There was frost on the ground.
|
Even in May we can sometimes get a late frost.
▪ black ice an area of ice that is very difficult to see on a road:
Driving conditions are dangerous, with black ice in many areas.
▪ icicle a long thin pointed piece of ice that hangs from a roof or other surface:
There were icicles hanging down from the side of the house.
▪ hailstones frozen balls of ice which fall like rain from the sky:
Hailstones as big as marbles flattened the crops.
▪ glacier a large mass of ice which moves slowly down a mountain valley:
The high mountain glaciers of South America and Asia are melting at an alarming rate.
|
the Kangshung glacier
▪ iceberg a very large mass of ice floating in the sea, most of which is under the surface of the water:
The ship sank after hitting an iceberg in the North Atlantic.
▪ ice cap an area of thick ice that permanently covers the North and South Poles:
We all know that the polar ice caps are melting because of global warming.
II. ice 2 BrE AmE verb [transitive] especially British English
[ Word Family: verb : ↑ ice , ↑ de-ice ; noun : ↑ ice , ↑ icicle ; adjective : ↑ icy , ↑ iced ; adverb : ↑ icily ]
to cover a cake with ↑ icing (=a mixture made of liquid and very fine sugar) SYN frost American English ⇨ icing
ice something ↔ down phrasal verb American English
to cover an injured part of the body in ice to stop it from swelling:
Make sure you ice that ankle down as soon as you get inside.
ice over/up ( also be iced over/up ) phrasal verb
to become covered with ice ⇨ icy :
Schools were closed when the roads iced over.
The plane’s engines had iced up.