transitive verb
Etymology: freeze (I) + out
1.
a. : to drive out or exclude by cold
the drop in temperature when the furnace went out froze out the club meeting
b. : to drive out or eliminate from competition or eliminate or exclude from a position of intimacy, significance, influence, or authority especially by stratagem, by coldly formal rejection, or by force
the depression froze out most of his competitors
the majority stockholders froze out the minority and took over the business
tended to freeze out newcomers until their family and educational backgrounds had been ascertained
2. : to eliminate from a game of freeze-out