Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun An appliance, cabinet, or room for storing food or other substances at a low temperature.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun That which refrigerates, cools, or keeps cool; specifically, any vessel, chamber, or apparatus designed to keep its contents at a temperature little if at all above the freezing-point.
- noun A feed-water heater, formerly used on ships, in which the boiler-feed was heated by the water or brine blown out of the boiler.
- noun In heat-engines, a device or substance for absorbing the heat generated during the compression stage of the cycle.
- noun In steam-engines, an obsolete device which was used for cooling the injection water for a marine condensing engine by cold sea-water. The surface-condenser renders this unnecessary.
- noun A machine for cooling air or fluids, in which the fluid or gas is compressed, cooled, and then allowed to expand, lowering its temperature in this last stage, and withdrawing heat from objects warmer than itself.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A box or room for keeping food or other articles cool, usually by means of ice.
- noun An apparatus for rapidly cooling heated liquids or vapors, connected with a still, etc.
- noun (Railroad) a freight car constructed as a refrigerator, for the transportation of fresh meats, fish, etc., in a temperature kept cool by ice.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
household appliance used for keeping food fresh byrefrigeration (short formfridge ). - noun One who has a
chilling influence.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun white goods in which food can be stored at low temperatures
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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Leo Kanner in a 1949 paper identified "parental coldness" and a "lack of maternal warmth" in the parents of autistic children, leading to the term refrigerator mother.
Conservapedia - Recent changes [en] Ed Poor 2010
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Leo Kanner in a 1949 paper identified "parental coldness" and a "lack of maternal warmth" in the parents of autistic children, leading to the term refrigerator mother.
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Leo Kanner in a 1949 paper identified "parental coldness" and a "lack of maternal warmth" in the parents of autistic children, leading to the term refrigerator mother.
Conservapedia - Recent changes [en] Ed Poor 2010
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Just checked and the jar in the refrigerator is almost empty.
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Just checked and the jar in the refrigerator is almost empty.
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Just checked and the jar in the refrigerator is almost empty.
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In high-heat areas, the refrigerator is a good place to keep it.
Hints From Heloise washingtonpost.com 2010
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The Luttrells 'downstairs refrigerator is 14 years old, which means it's much less efficient than newer models, Luxton says.
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Log in to Reply except that 30% of the compressors just said they'll quit if this refrigerator is sold.
Quote of the Day, insulting analogies edition. | RedState 2010
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Toss venison with marinade, cover, and marinate in refrigerator 30 minutes to overnight.
yarb commented on the word refrigerator
A reflection at once so prudent and so virtuous acted as a refrigerator on my spirits; but visions of pleasure and of interest soon raised them again above the freezing point.
- Lesage, The Adventures of Gil Blas of Santillane, tr. Smollett, bk 7 ch. 10
Interesting usage from before the days of mechanical refrigerators. I would imagine this was a fairly rare word back then.
October 1, 2008